FILE IMAGE: Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty in action. (PHOTO: BAI)
The 6-foot-4 vantage builds immense tales of the attacking potential that Ayush Shetty possesses. He can strike down unretrievable smashes, and the cross court inside out variety were fearsome. Chi Yu Jen is a 28-year-old Taiwanese who believes in speed overcoming most challenges in dictating rallies. But what the World No 20 did not reckon for were smashes that he would reach, but his racquet wouldn’t be able to parry.
And to think that wasn’t even where Ayush Shetty got to him, in the 21-16, 21-12 loss. That was the cheeky flicks and needle pricks and bee stings he created at the net.
Making the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asian Championship, Ayush made Round 2 look very easy, though he had brought down Li Shifeng with equal haste. But if the expansive back court smashes loomed for the Chinese, the net – Ayush’s original core skill, got the job done against the Taiwanese.
Should the incoming 15-point system strike badminton, Ayush’s opponents will be left guessing if it suits him or doesn’t. Consistently, he trails opponents in the first quarter of a set – at Ningbo on Thursday, he was 6-10 down. By 15 though, he led by a solitary point.
Much of the fast paced rallies saw him stationed at the forecourt in a squat leaning slightly behind, and intercepting shuttles coming both flanks. He had the midcourt covered. Where he really took off was at 14-13 down, as he went on a 5 point flurry, moving in quickly at the net. There he wielded the racquet like a scythe, a small axe, a flipping spatula, a turning key even and a Swiss knife. All the various tumbles, dribbles, flicks, pushes and taps – played at will, like Aaron Chia with Chirag Shetty’s energy. The deceptions and variety were manifold.
The big looking smash is a great weapon to stun out opponents, like at 8-7 in the second when a flick serves was pulped down with vehemence. Next point, Ayush accepted the challenge of a doubles style, fast parallel exchange, and the handspeed fetched him a point. A sharp net dribble at 13-8 helped him widen the gap between him and the Taiwanese and slowly put it beyond the opponent.
The chiseling mallet hammer was back as he took a 19-11 lead and raced away to a win in 31 minutes.
Jojo Christie next
As Ayush lines up for the quarterfinals, he will face Jonatan Christie, ranked No 4 next.
Jojo has now turned an independent athlete away from the formal Indonesian system, and this happened soon after the departure of Coach Irwansyah to India. Irwansyah polished Jojo’s game to the extent that he won the Asian in 2018, and maxed out a strictly accurate game into a tactical winning juggernaut for Indonesia.
Jojo was taken out of the Paris Olympics by Lakshya Sen, and Ayush will have plenty of background research to work with. But most importantly, he will have Irwansyah in his corner now. The Indonesian, now 28 years old, loves pinging the forehand back court corners of opponents. So expect Ayush to be sent scurrying to the baseline every now and then. He is also considerably sharper at the net – a proper Top 5 opponent, with pace variations and not prone to losing patience or hassled by a big game.
