10 April,2026 03:18 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ayush Shetty (Pic: File Pic)
In the Badminton Asia Championships, India's star shuttler Ayush Shetty secured a dominating victory against Jonathan Christie of Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Friday.
The Indian, who is ranked 25th, defeated Christie by 23-21, 21-17 in the fierce face-off. With this, Shetty has sealed the semi-final berth in the men's singles category.
This was also the first meeting between Christie and Shetty in the ongoing event. The Indonesian had clinched a gold medal in the Asian Games and Asian Championships, and was also part of the national team that managed to win the Thomas Cup in 2020.
Earlier, the 20-year-old Shetty, who is the reigning US Open Super 300 champion, defeated the 20th-ranked Chinese Taipei's Chi Yu Jen in the round of 16 on Thursday. He defeated Yu Jen by 21-16, 21-12.
On the other hand, India's badminton star PV Sindhu was eliminated from the women's event. She suffered a defeat by 18-21, 8-21 against second seed Wang Zhiyi of China in a 46-minute last-16 stage match.
HS Prannoy, too, had a rough outing in the event. Making his appearance after recovering from a shoulder injury, he failed to secure a victory as he lost by 12-21, 19-21 against China's Weng Hong Yang.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after a 13-21, 14-21 defeat to fourth-seeded Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei. Unnati Hooda lost to World No. 9 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 17-21, 9-21 in women's singles, while the women's doubles pair of Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra went down 10-21, 13-21 to the Japanese duo of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.
Relying on his height, Shetty kept producing steep smashes and took control of the game. The opening game was closely fought early on, with the scores level at 4-4 before Chi moved ahead 10-6.
Later, the Indian fought his way back after the break, drawing level at 12-12 and then taking control as Chi struggled with his length, committing a series of unforced errors. He then moved to 18-14 and closed the first game.
In the second game, Shetty took a lead of 4-0 before the opponent tried to make a comeback. Riding on his dominating smashes, the 20-year-old shuttler surged to 11-7 till the interval. Using aggressive returns and sharp net play to move to 16-9, he soon wrapped up the match, sealing it with a sharp backhand at the net.
(With PTI Inputs)
