India’s Ayush Shetty won a silver medal at the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 men’s singles event, going down against world champion and local favourite Shi Yuqi in the final at Ningbo, the People’s Republic of China, on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Ayush Shetty, 25th in the badminton rankings, lost 21-8, 21-10 to the world No. 2 Shi Yuqi in 42 minutes.
Ayush Shetty’s feat marked India’s first silver medal in the men’s singles at the Badminton Asia Championships. Dinesh Khanna remains the only Indian to have won gold in the event in 1965.
India also have six bronze medals in men’s singles at the continental meet, the most recent coming through HS Prannoy in 2018.
The country’s last medal across all events came through Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who bagged the men’s doubles gold in 2023. The same year, Ayush Shetty won a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Championships.
Ayush Shetty had a tough start as Shi Yuqi set the tone early with sharp net play and variation.
The Chinese shuttler went into the mid-game interval 11-6 ahead and later closed out the game in dominant fashion.
Ayush, who had also lost the opening game against world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn easily before pulling off a remarkable win, looked to bounce back early in the second game to lead 7-2.
However, Shi Yuqi flipped the momentum with five consecutive points and took an 11-8 lead at the interval.
The Chinese shuttler’s experience came to the fore, as he repeatedly caught his 10-year-younger opponent off guard with clever variations and completed the victory.
Earlier in the tournament, the Indian badminton player beat world No. 1 and Paris 2024 silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semi-finals.
Ayush Shetty’s giant-killing spree began in the opening round, where he stunned world No. 7 and reigning Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng of China.
He followed it up with a composed win over Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen, ranked 20th, to book a quarter-final berth, where he toppled world No. 4 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/badminton-asia-championships-2026-india-ayush-shetty-final-report
