Ayush Shetty vs Shi Yu Qi, Badminton Asia Final Highlights: Ayush Shetty wins silver, loses final to Shi Yu Qi

It might not have been Ayush's day today, but he showed on Sunday that he belonged at the highest level.

Onwards and upwards Ayush.

Kingshuk Kusari with the match report

That's it from our coverage at India Today. Check out the website tomorrow for a special feature, which will include analysis from coach Vimal Kumar.

Young Ayush Shetty is a generational talent.

He showed that throughout the tournament when he beat the World No. 1,4, and 7 on his way to the final. But his 20-year-old body could not take anymore.

Shi Yu Qi is the deserved winner as he beat Ayush in straight games 21-8, 21-10.

Well done Ayush. You should take a lot of pride from this tournament.

Onwards and upwards.

Stay tuned for the match report and analysis. I will link it at the top of the blog here.

The World Champion is now also the Asia Champion.

Ayush Shetty showed a lot of zip in the tournament, but perhaps his young and tired legs were no match for the veteran Chinese, who absolutely bulldozed the Indian star today.

China's Shi Yu Qi, World No.2 beats India's rising star Ayush Shetty in the men's singles final.

Ayush loses 8-21, 10-21 in 42 minutes against the Chinese star, who has a huge smile on his face.

A Chinese has never won the men's singles final before. And Shi Yu Qi is on the brink of that. Shi leads Ayush Shetty 19-10 in the second game. This looks like a straight games closeout folks.

Shi Yu Qi's relentless ability to play the right shot at the right time is getting the better of Ayush Shetty.

Shi is incredible with his variety of smashes and that is forcing mistakes from Ayush.

There are a couple of mistakes from Ayush as well, who has now left two lofted shuttles in third court thinking that it was going out.

Both were in, by a long margin.

Ayush Shetty trails 8-14 in the second game. 

Ayush Shetty has squandered his lead trying to look for bog smashes. He does not want to get into big rallies and in trying so has hit a couple of his smashes into the net.

From a 7-3 lead, Ayush is now trailing 8-11 in the second game.

The Indian shuttle needs to make a comeback right now, or this will be over soon.

Tough fight. Shi Yu Qi is making life so tough for the Indian in the men's singles final. A couple of Ayush's long lobs have gone out of the court, and that has disturbed his rhythm.

Shi is trying to play aggressive again and is definitely hitting his smashes with a lot of zip.

Second game is level at 8-8. 

Tremendous smash and Ayush is building up his lead on Shi Yu Qi.

The flight is better on this side of the court (the near side), and Ayush has managed to silence the crowd.

30-year-old Shi is struggling to reach the smashes.

This shot was called out by the line judge, but hawkeye showed that it fell bang in the middle of the line. 

Ayush Shetty is leading 7-3 in the second game.

Tremendous save from Ayush Shetty at the start of the second game. He has taken a 3-1 lead at the start of the second game.

Shi falters under pressure after this defence and plays his cross-court slice into the net.

The young India suffers a big loss in the first set.

Shi Yu Qi hands him an under 10 defeat.

Shi Yu Qi really amped up his attack in the second half of the first game, hitting relentless cross court smashes.

Once Ayush got the hang of the cross-courters, Shi flipped the script and start hitting down the line.

And Ayush had no answer to that.

Ayush loses the first game 21-8 in just 18 minutes.

Right after the break, Shi Yu Qi has started hitting his world-renowned cross court smashes. Ayush has put in two dives but has not been able to save both the points after the breaks.

Shi is mixing those smashes with cross court drops, which have put Ayush in trouble. His big frame means that he takes more time to reach the ground than Shi, and that time in Badminton is vital.

Shi's lead extends to 15-7 in the first game.

Good defence from Ayush Shetty. 

He knows that Shi is not a big smasher, and he is forcing his defence into wide areas. The problem with that is, when Shi is hitting into neutral zones - the middle of the court - Shetty's angled defences are often going wide.

And with that, Ayush trails 11-6 at the mid-game break.

Ayush Shetty has managed to get back in the game!

He is forcing Shi to come forward and then is trying to shift Shi's weight to back court. As a result, Shi is hitting shots high to third court, where Ayush is present, ready to hit a strong smash.

A clear theme of the match is Shi trying to get Ayush close to the net. Ayush has been careful at dealing with those, and has been able to reduce his deficit from 1-4, to 5-7.

First point for Ayush Shetty.

Shi reads the lofted backcourt return wrong. Shi leaves the shuttle, but decides late to hit the shot from a low angle. By that time, it was too late, and he puts it into the net.

Point for Ayush Shetty, but he trails 1-4 in the first game.

Ayush Shetty serves in the first game. He is playing from the far side of the court.

Shetty loses the first two points as Shi Yu Qi masterfully plays two tight net shots, which Ayush fails to lift up.

Here. We. Go!

Ayush Shetty arrives at the arena. And the crowd cheers him loudly at the Ningbo Arena.

Ayush has faced Shi Yu Qi twice, and has lost both games. But he is coming into this final better prepared than ever.

The men's singles final in the Badminton Asia Championships is set to begin.

The crowd is locked in and the two athletes are set to arrive inside the arena.

Alright then, the men's doubles final is over, and we are finally ready for the Ayush Shetty vs Shi Yu Qi's summit clash.

The results so far today: 

• An Se Young beats Wang Zhi Yi in women's singles final. (21-12, 17-21, 21-18)
• Li Yi Jing/Lou Xu Min get a walkover in women's doubles final. (8-5)
• Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae beat Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju. (21-13, 21-17)

At the moment, the men's doubles final is going on. The all-Korean showdown is likely going to be a 2-game affair.

So I would say 10 more minutes and this match ends. And right after that, Ayush and Shi will walk into the court.

 All the badminton regulars would know who Shi Yu Qi, but for the people who do not get to watch the sport often, here's a small rundown on who this top-seded Chinese player is.

Standing at 6ft tall, Shi Yu Qi is already a World Champion, a multi-time Thomas Cup winner. He is yet to win an Olympic medal yet, but his fans might argue that he has a good chance of doing that in the next edition of the tournament.

An elite defensive player, Shi has the ability to hit some top quality shots and drain out opponents.

A right-handed player, he relies on net exchanges to set up accurate smashes. His best attributes are his ability to play high-quality shots consistently and his touch at the net exchanges.

All finals of the Badminton Asia Championships were scheduled today.

An Se Young won the women's singles title in a gruelling battle against Wang Zhi Yi, which lasted over 100 minutes.

Chinese pair of Li Yi Jing and Lou Xu Min won the women's doubles title after being given a walkover by Tan Ning and Liu Sheng Shu.

At the moment, the men's doubles final between Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju has just started.

It is expected to be an one-sided affair with top seeded Kim/Seo winning the tie.

After this match ends, Ayush Shetty will walk out in the arena to face Shi Yu Qi.

AYUSH SHETTY FINAL LIVESTREAM

The match will not be broadcasted on TV.

You can watch the livestream of the event on the Badminton Asia Facebook. Or, if you do not want to go through that pain, you can read here about the match on India Today.

This is not the first time Ayush Shetty is meeting Shi Yu Qi on the badminton circuit.

They met twice, and twice the Chinese has got the better of the India.

Most recently they met at the final of the Malaysian Open, where Ayush was able to stretch Shi to a three-game battle.

Read Akshay Ramesh's report on the same.

In case this is the first time that you are hearing about Ayush Shetty, don't worry. We have you covered. 

Back in 2025, after Ayush won a modest Super 300 tournament, Akshay Ramesh, our main badminton reporter, had written a profile about him.

Akshay was reminded of Viktor Axelsen when he saw 6ft 4in tall Ayush Shetty for the first time. Ayush's cross court smashed drew attention and the aggression to finish rallies quickly stood out.

Here's what Akshay thought of Ayush Shetty.

Ayush Shetty has slain some big names to reach the final of the Badminton Asia Championships.

To put in context how hard this tournament is, Lakshya Sen, India's best player, was knocked out in the first round of the competition. PV Sindhu, India's best women's singles player lost in straight games in the second round.

Ayush Shetty, on the other hand, beat World No. 13 Li Shi Feng in the first round, World No. 4 Jonatan Christie in the quarter-final, and World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semi-final of the competition.

He now faces another big fish, former World No. 1 Shi Yu Qi, in the final of the competition.

Hello and welcome to India Today's coverage of the Badminton Asia Championships final.

India's Ayush Shetty is playing his men's singles final today. And since there is no live broadcast, we are here to give you the live updates from the game.

Young Ayush, who is just 20 years of age is on the brink of the first breakthrough of his career.

He is taking on China's Shi Yu Qi in the men's singles final and will look to clinch the gold medal today.

Stay tuned for live updates.