hong kong: Rising Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty caused a major upset at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 on Thursday, ousting 2023 World Championships silver medallist Kodai Naraoka of Japan in a hard-fought three-game contest to storm into the men’s singles quarterfinals.
The 20-year-old from Karnataka, who clinched the US Open Super 300 title in June, showcased his aggressive style and superior court coverage to outplay the former world No. 2 Japanese shuttler 21-19, 12-21, 21-14 in a 72-minute thriller.
Ayush will face Lakshya Sen, his compatriot and companion at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, Lakshya reached his first men’s singles quarterfinal of a top BWF World Tour event in six months, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced at the $500,000 event.
Former world championships bronze medallist Lakshya, ranked 20th, rallied past compatriot HS Prannoy 15-21 21-18 21-10 in the second round. The 23-year-old Lakshya, who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, has battled injuries and patchy form this season. He last made the semifinals at the All England Super 1000 in March and reached the same stage at the Macau Open Super 300.
In men’s doubles, world no. 9 Satwiksairaj and Chirag, fresh from their second World Championships bronze in Paris, will next face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.
A bronze medallist at the 2023 BWF World Junior Championships — the same year Naraoka claimed silver at the senior Worlds — Ayush has been in fine form over the past year, having also reached the final of the 2023 Odisha Masters and finishing runner-up at events in Bahrain and the Netherlands across 2023 and 2024.
In the other men’s singles match, Prannoy looked in good touch as he had a
smooth ride.