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Ayush Shetty continued his fine form and assured India a medal at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Junior Championships after he defeated Japan's Yudai Okimoto in the quarterfinals to storm into the semifinals in Spokane, USA early on Saturday.
The Indian shuttler came strong on the fifth day of the prestigious event. Ayush, the number one ranked Indian boys' singles player in BAI rankings, faced a tough challenge from his opponent in the early stages. However, when the score reached 16-15 in the Indian shuttler's favour, he took his game to the next level, won a flurry of points and won the first game 21-16, as per a press release from the Badminton Association of India. In the second game, Ayush Shetty quickly established a 4-0 lead and maintained his momentum. Although his opponent Yudai attempted a comeback at 18-12, Ayush held his composure and won the second game 21-17 to win the tie in 45 minutes. Ayush will face the fourth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia in the semifinals early on Sunday. In the girls' singles section, Tara Shah faced the eighth seed Xu Wen Jing of China in the quarterfinal. Tara showed resilience in the first game but lost by a narrow margin. In the second game, Tara could not find her rhythm at all and failed to keep up with her opponent en route losing the tie 17-21, 6-21. Before this edition of the World Junior Championships, India had won one gold, 4 silver and five bronze medals at the prestigious event. India's S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian won the silver medal in the boys' singles category in the last edition of the World Junior Championships held in Spain in 2022. (ANI)
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