India’s Ayush Shetty is quickly making it a habit of beating the world’s top players regularly.
Last year he twice beat both former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and world No.10 Kodai Naraoka of Japan. The 20-year-old also beat world No.6 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei during his 2025 US Open title-winning campaign. In January, he beat former All England champion and Paris Olympics bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in straight games.
Shetty continued that trend on Wednesday as he ousted another former All England champion and reigning Asian Games gold medallist Li Shi Feng of China from the first round of the $550,000 Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China.
The world No.25 was in his element as he overcame the fifth-seeded home favourite 21-13, 21-16 in 51 minutes in what was the first contest between the two to advance to Round 2 where he will face Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.
It was a dominant display by Shetty who made tactical use of his height (1.95m) for steep smashes and net control against the world No.7. Despite a better start by Li in both games, the Indian youngster overpowered the home favourite courtesy of his proactive game in the front court.
Knowing he had nothing to lose, Shetty employed a high-risk attacking game which rewarded him despite taking some time to find his rhythm early on.
“What a performance by Ayush,” Shetty’s coach U Vimal Kumar told HT from Bengaluru. “He absolutely blew away Li Shi Feng in straight games with fearless, attacking badminton. The power, precision, and those thunderous smashes — the Chinese had no answers, completely unable to read or react. A truly dominant display.”
Shetty has been training with PV Sindhu’s coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama, who was also sitting courtside, for the last couple of weeks. It was the idea of Shetty’s coaches at the Centre of Badminton Excellence (formerly Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy) Vimal and Sagar Chopda to have Shetty train under Irwansyah, who coaches a young group of players alongside Sindhu at the national camp.
“The idea is to ensure these players benefit from the presence of foreign coaches while they are in India, especially since they are being supported well by the government/SAI,” added Vimal.
Lakshya out, Sindhu advances
Lakshya Sen, who reached the final of the All England Open last month, lost 12-21, 19-21 to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu. This was Lee’s fourth win in six meetings against the Indian.
While former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth lost 18-21, 9-21, 11-21 to Loh, HS Prannoy managed his first win in three months as he beat Vietnam’s Nguyen Hai Dang 24-22, 21-12.
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu defeated Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 and will next face world No.2 Wang Zhi Yi of China.
