After eight long years, India has secured a medal at a continental meet as Ayush Shetty stormed into the semifinals of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 after pulling off an upset against world No. 4 Jonatan Christie in Ningbo, the People’s Republic of China, on Friday.
With a place in the last four, Ayush became the first Indian men’s singles badminton player since HS Prannoy in 2018 to secure a medal at the continental meet. It will also be India’s first medal at the Badminton Asia Championships since Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s men’s doubles gold in 2023.
Ayush, ranked 25th in the men’s singles, registered a 23-21, 21-17 win over Olympian and third seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the quarterfinals.
The opener was fiercely contested with neither player able to break clear as Jonatan Christie, a former Asian champion, edged into the mid-game interval with a narrow 11-10 lead.
First win for Ayush against Christie
Jonatan Christie appeared poised to take control after stretching his advantage to 18-15 and even earned a game point before Ayush Shetty produced a fightback and forced the contest into a tie-break on way to clinching the opener.
The second game was equally hard-fought with Ayush Shetty carrying a slender 11-9 advantage into the interval before tightening his grip on the contest and closing it out to book his place in the semi-finals.
This was the first win for Ayush against Christie in the maiden encounter between the two.
Earlier in the tournament, Ayush had stunned world No. 7 and reigning Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng in the opening round, before beating Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei to qualify for the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Ayush will take on the winner of the match between Paris 2024 silver medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Weng Hongyang, a member of China’s Asian Games gold medal winning men’s team.
Ayush is the only Indian badminton player left in the ongoing Asia Championships.
