Ayush Shetty’s fairytale journey in the Badminton Asia Championship ended at the last hurdle when the 20-year-old Indian lost 8-21, 10-21 in 42 minutes to home favourite Shi Yuqi in Ningbo on Sunday, 12 April. The Mangalorean, who turned out to be a giantkiller during the tournament, finished with a silver medal.
Currently world no. 2, Yuqi dominated for a better part of the match, extending his head-to-head record against the Indian to 3-0. The Chinese shuttler also bagged his maiden gold at the continental event, having previously won three bronze medals.
It was a memorable week otherwise for world no. 25 Ayush, who became the seventh Indian to win a men’s singles medal at the event after Dinesh Khanna (gold in 1965 and bronze in 1969), Suresh Goel (bronze in 1965), Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1976), Pullela Gopichand (bronze in 2000), Anup Sridhar (bronze in 2007) and H. S. Prannoy (bronze in 2018).
Ayush, a 2023 BWF World Junior Championship bronze medallist, had reached the final by stunning defending champion and world no. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 10-21, 21-19, 21-17 in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Ayush, the reigning US Open champion, had taken down world no. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the quarterfinals, no. 20 Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16 and world no. 7 Li Shi Feng of China in the first round.
