India’s Ayush Shetty made one of the biggest upsets at the Badminton World Championships after defeating defending champion and world No.1 Shi Yuqi of China in the opening round at New Delhi.
The 21-year old player was making his World Championships debut, and defeated the chinese player with 21-14,13-21,21-19 in the three-game battle. Ayush started strong and used an attacking approach to take the opening game with 21-14. However, Shi responded strongly in the second game, winning 21-13 to force the match into a decider.
Ayush then took 11-5 lead in the third game, putting himself in a strong position. Shi fought back towards the end, but Ayush remained composed and closed out the deciding game 21-19 to win in front of the home crowd.
The result is a major achievement for Ayush following his previous encounters with Shi. The two players met in the Badminton Asia Championships final in April, where Shi defeated Ayush in just 40 minutes. Before the Badminton World Championships match, Ayush lost all three of his previous meetings with Shi. His World Championships win is his first career win over Shi.
Ayush credited the support from the home crowd for giving him extra energy during the game. “The crowd was really behind and gave me the energy. They kept cheering for me. It gave me a lot of energy,” he said. With the biggest win of his career, Ayush has now advanced to the second round of the World Championships and Shi made an early exit from the tournament.
