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Ayush Shetty upsets third seed Jonatan Christie to reach the semi-final of the Badminton Asia Championships.
File image of Ayush Shetty (Picture credit: BAI)
Ayush Shetty shocked third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships on Friday.
The Indian youngster defeated the World number four 23-21, 21-17 in 54 minutes to book his place in the semi-final.
This was the first meeting between Christie and Shetty on the tour.
Christie is a gold medallist at both the Asian Games and the Asian Championships. He was also part of the Indonesian team that won the Thomas Cup in 2020.
In the semi-finals, Ayush will face the winner of the match between Paris 2024 silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Weng Hongyang.
How Ayush Beat Christie?
The opening game was fiercely contested, with neither player able to pull away. Christie went into the interval with a slender 11-10 lead. After the break, the Indonesian seized control, extending his advantage to 18-15 and even earning a game point before Ayush mounted a spirited fightback to force a tie-break.
The second game was equally hard-fought, with the Indian taking a narrow 11-9 lead into the interval. He then tightened his grip on the match and closed it out to secure his place in the semi-finals.
History In The Making for Ayush
World number 25 Ayush, who is also the reigning US Open Super 300 champion, had defeated Chin Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in straight games on Thursday.
Ayush registered a comfortable 21-16, 21-12 win over the Taipei shuttler in a match that lasted 41 minutes.
He began his campaign with a stunning victory over world No. 7 and fifth seed Li Shi Feng of China, winning 21-13, 21-16 in the opening round.
Other Indians All Out
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world championship medallist HS Prannoy bowed out after losing their respective second-round matches.
Prannoy, who had entered the second round with a straight-games 24-22, 21-12 win over Nguyen Hai Dang, suffered a 12-21, 19-21 defeat at the hands of world No. 17 Weng Hong Yang of Hong Kong.
In the women’s singles, Sindhu also suffered a straight-games defeat to two-time Asian champion and second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China. Sindhu had rallied to reach the second round after winning her opener 15-21, 21-11, 21-19 against Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia.
In the mixed doubles, India endured more disappointment as the pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila lost to the fourth-seeded duo of Toh Ee Wei and Chang Ten Jie 13-21, 14-21.
Later in the day, Unnati Hooda, who came from a game down to upset world No. 11 Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the opening round, will take on world No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.
In the women’s doubles, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra will lock horns with the fifth-seeded Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto for a place in the quarterfinals.
Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Malvika Bansod and Tanvi Sharma had all exited in the opening round.
(With inputs from Agencies)
April 10, 2026, 11:59 IST
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