Ayush Shetty makes semis at Taiwan with fighting 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 win over Brian Yang | Badminton News

Leading 10-5 in the opening set against a sticky opponent like Brian Yang, India’s Ayush Shetty allowed 8 points to drift, after a silly miss on the net tap to go 10-13 down. Those narrow precision errors, that you’d much rather shake off, can lead to massive lapses in concentration. But Ayush, still only 20, fought off momentum in the Canadian’s favour where he was 2 points away frim winning, and stomped his way right back for a 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 win at the Super300 at Taiwan.
Mid-sets tend to be points-slop with lopsided scores for most part in international badminton. But Ayush brought alive the second set, to literally stay alive in Taipei Open competition and make semifinals.
On Saturday, he takes on local legend Chou Tien Chen – in a match that can be a earful even on ordinary days with the Taiwanese’ super-support staff who makes every match of his exciting with her cheers. But playing at Taipei with its noisy adoring crowd will make the contest additionally supersonic. “Chou is a veteran of the Tour, a fantastic player, who you don’t want to face,” coach Sagar Chopda quipped. “But let’s see how Ayush handles it,” he added.
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On Friday booking his semis berth, Ayush was up against someone who thrives on keeping a simple, good length. Yang didn’t really tire and fade out. He did however suffer the thundering effects of an attacking game, with the big smash of Ayush overwhelming him at the crunch against the World No 31. Ayush is ranked No 44, but is making consent progress in Super300s as he climbs the ranking ladder.
Yang is one of those super tenacious players whose jump smashes foment feelings of hyper activity due to volume rather than actually gain elevation or strike deep or fast. So Yang kept jumping around, and smashing with gusto. But Ayush was equal to defending those. He was slightly sloppy on body defense in the first, but didn’t balk from the net dribbles but was patient enough to wait for Yang to either smash into the net or smudge it wide and long going for corners.
“He knew it would be a long match, and was prepared for it,” Chopda said. It ought to have been longer, given he didn’t do enough to stem that 8-point surge of Yang.
Some might say the Indian plays two strokes too many, but having lost the first, he brought some urgency into the second to attack cross repeatedly and go up to 18-15 in the second threatening a decider. Yang went on a 4-point spurt at this point to go up 19-18, as Ayush called for a medical timeout at 19-all. Yang lost three points as his overhead crosscourt smash went wide. With the sets levelled, Ayush proceeded to stamp his aggression on the decider and blew Yang away. Story continues below this ad
Chopda says it was the intelligent injection of pace from the overhead corner that helped Ayush send those down the line winners which stumped Yang in anticipation. “Brian is tricky with no expression on his face and not easy to score points off,” the coach added.
When Ayush frittered the 10-5 lead, his body defense lapsed a bit, but he remained sharp on the net mixing his pushes and judicious in his attack, accelerating in the air from the corners.
Ultimately, he was prepared for the long haul, not afraid to face reverses, and the power flowed from that belief.