Shuttler Ayush Shetty’s dream run ends with loss in Asia Championships final

India’s 20-year-old Shetty goes down 8-21,10-21 in 42 minutes against reigning world champion and home favourite Shi Yu Qi of China in the Badminton Asia Championship final in Ningbo, China

NEW DELHI: Ayush Shetty’s brilliant run at the $550,000 Badminton Asia Championships ended with a loss in the men’s singles final, earning the 20-year-old a well-deserved silver medal in Ningbo, China, on Sunday.

India's Ayush Shetty at the Badminton Asia Championship in Ningbo, China. (AFP)

Shetty went down 8-21, 10-21 in 42 minutes as he proved no match for reigning world champion and home favourite Shi Yu Qi in the last match of the day.

On Saturday, the shuttler from Mangaluru became only the third Indian player or pair to reach the final of the prestigious continental championships.

Dinesh Khanna had won the men’s singles crown way back in 1965. India had to wait another 58 years before the ace pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty claimed the men’s doubles gold three years ago in Dubai.

The unheralded Shetty, who graduated to the senior circuit only two years ago, surprised one and all when she reached the summit clash overcoming some of the best shuttlers on the circuit. In the opening round, he beat reigning Asian Games gold medallist and local favourite Li Shi Feng before overcoming Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.

A product of the Centre of Badminton Excellence (CBE) (formerly Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy), Shetty’s earlier claim to fame was winning the bronze at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

At the senior level, Shetty reached the final of the 2023 Odisha Masters — a super 100 event — but his breakthrough came last year when he won the US Open — a Super 300 event — in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

This was Shi’s first Asian Championships crown. He has previously won a silver and two bronze medals.