Ayush Shetty of Karkala in Udipi, Karnataka, emulated a six-decade-old Indian feat by defeating world No. 1 Kanwalwat Witedsaran of Thailand in Ningbo, China on Saturday to reach the summit stage of the continental championship.In 1965, Dinesh Khanna became the first – and only – Indian to win the Asian men’s singles title. On Sunday, Gangly Ayush – standing six-foot-four in his socks – gets a chance to stand alongside the Delhi-based former Punjab shuttler when he faces reigning world champion Shi Yuqi of China. Satuk Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Asian doubles title in 2023.On Saturday, the 20-year-old Ayush defeated Kanuluth 10-21, 21-19, 21-17, while world No. 2 Shi defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chu Tien Chen 21-9, 21-13 in the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships.Shi defeated Ayush at the Malaysia Open this January and the Indonesia Masters last year. The world number 25 Indian knocked out world number 7 Li Shifeng in the first round and world number 4 Jonathan Christie in the quarterfinals.Ayush said, “It feels great to reach the final in my first Asian Championship.Although slow to block, he picked up first towards the end of the game. Riding on his retrieval skills, powerful jump smash and excellent court coverage, Ayush rallied after losing the first game.Beating the former world champion Convolute in three games is considered difficult on the circuit. Thai is considered a slow starter who gets stronger with time on the court. But Aayush used a different strategy to surpass the ‘Three Seat Men’. He played very patiently, showed an endurance play style and used attacking shots whenever he got range.“After the first set I played more patiently, he was really recovering every shuttle. I had to keep attacking,” Ayush said after prevailing in the 1 hour 15 minute bout.Ayush almost lost the match when Kunlawat saved five game points in the second set. Leading 20-14 in the second, Ayush made too many errors and allowed Kunlawut to make it 20-19. At this stage, he did well to expect high returns from Kunlawat. He took his time and produced a much-needed down-the-line smash winner to bring the contest to a decisive point.Ayush recovered well and hit hard to start with a 4-1 lead, extended it to 8-3 and took an 11-7 lead on Courts’ mandatory conversion in the third game. He maintained a healthy lead after the break as the troubled Kinlawat lost his length and hit the shuttle into or out of the net.
