New Delhi: India’s young badminton superstar Ayush Shetty sent shockwaves across the sporting world with a stunning victory against former world number two Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the Round of 16 contest at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament. Ayush, 20, sealed a memorable win by knocking out a 2023 World Championships silver medallist in an intense battle to power into the men’s singles quarterfinals.
The highly-rated Karnataka youngster, who won the US Open Super 300 title in June, mixed his aggressive style and superior court coverage to perfection to outplay the current world number nine Japanese shuttler 21-19, 12-21, 21-14 in a 72-minute thriller.
Courtesy of the impressive win, Ayush set up a mouthwatering all-Indian quarterfinal with his experienced compatriot Lakshya Sen, who is also his companion at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, in the quarterfinals.
Lakshya had earlier qualified for his first men’s singles quarterfinal of a top BWF World Tour event in six months with a comeback win against compatriot HS Prannoy. Despite being a game down, Sen rallied to beat HS Prannoy 15-21, 21-18, 21-10 in the second round. Lakshya, 23, finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, but since the marquee event has battled injuries and patchy form this season.
His last semifinal appearance came at the All England Super 1000 in March. He also qualified for the last four at the Macau Open Super 300.
Meanwhile, India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced at the USD 500,000 event. The world no. 9 Indian duo, fresh from their second World Championships bronze in Paris, will take on Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.
Ayush finds a way with grit and determination
Ayush showed a remarkable fighting spirit to fight back despite trailing in the match at several stages. His strong smashes unsettled Naraoka as the see-saw opening game saw Ayush come back from 2-5, 9-12, and 13-15 and eventually take the game 21-19.
But Naraoka showed his experience and bounced back in style in the second game, taking an early advantage of an 11-5 lead at the mid-game interval. The Japanese carried the momentum forward to level the match as Ayush struggled to find his rhythm.
In the decider, Ayush regained his composure and grasped all the attacking opportunities with both hands. With scores tied at 3-3, Ayush pressed the foot on the pedal and took an 8-4 lead. Naroka wilted under pressure and started committing unforced errors. Ayush capitalised and raced to a 17-10 lead, and with Naraoka hitting wide twice, Ayush had eight match points in hand. The young Indian star squandered two before clinching the memorable win.