India's Ayush Shetty clinches bronze at BWF World Junior Championships in Spokane, USA
Indian badminton saw another exceptional performance by its junior shuttlers at the BWF World Junior Championships. India’s Ayush Shetty won the country’s second consecutive medal in the men’s singles category following Sankar Muthuswamy’s silver from last year.
The young shuttler has joined an elite list of Indian players who have won medals at this prestigious tournament. Ayush’s bronze medal makes it the country’s 11th medal, and it also makes him the 10th Indian to have a medal at the championships.
India has won one gold, four silvers, and now, six bronze medals. The gold medal, earned by Saina Nehwal in 2008, remains India's best result at the event.
Saina had also bagged a silver in 2006. Some of the other Indian players to have won a medal include Aparna Popat, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen.
Ayush Shetty's journey to the semi-finals in Spokane was nothing short of remarkable. On his way to the bronze medal, he defeated the second and seventh seeds.
In a closely contested semi-final match, Shetty went head-to-head with the fourth-seeded Alwi Farhan of Indonesia, ultimately losing 21-18, 21-15 after 45 minutes. Despite the loss, the performance showcased Shetty’s prospects for the future.
While Shetty's performance was India’s best at this edition of the tournament, there was another noteworthy performance. In the women’s singles category, Tara Shah displayed her phenomenal skills by making it to the quarterfinals, where she went down to China's Wen Jing Xu.
Other results of Indian shuttlers at the BWF World Junior Championships
In men's singles, Lokesh Reddy suffered a second-round defeat in a hard-fought match to Japan's Rui Sato 18-21, 16-21. Tushar Suveer, on the other hand, fought valiantly but was defeated in the third round by Alwi Farhan 16-21, 19-21.
In the women's singles category, Unnati Hooda faced a tough challenge and was defeated by the top seed from Japan 13-21, 13-21. Devika Sihag exhibited her talent in a closely-fought battle against her Chinese opponent, Dai Qin Yi, in the second round. In a thrilling encounter, Sihag was ultimately defeated 18-21, 21-18, 20-22.
In mixed doubles events, Samarveer and Radhika Sharma faced defeat in the pre-quarterfinals to a Japanese pair 18-21, 17-21. Sathwik Reddy K and Vaishnavi Khadkekar also made it to the pre-quarterfinals and put up a strong fight against the seventh seeds from Indonesia but lost 10-21, 22-24.
In men's doubles, Nicholas Nathan Raj and Tushar Suveer (who also featured in the men’s singles) faced a tough challenge and were defeated in the pre-quarterfinals by the fifth seeds from Malaysia 14-21, 17-21.
Similarly, Divyam Arora and Mayank Arora also faced a pre-quarterfinal defeat, falling to the seventh seeds from Indonesia 12-21, 10-21.
In women's doubles, Radhika Sharma and Tanvi Sharma were defeated in the third round by the eventual runner-ups from the USA, Francesca Corbett and Allison Lee 12-21, 10-21.
Vennala K and Shriyanshi Valishetty also faced a third-round defeat, falling to the fifth seeds from France 17-21, 17-21.
In the BWF World Junior Mixed Teams Championships, which took place before the individual championships, India had secured a seventh-place finish.