Orleans Masters: Ayush Shetty stuns ex-world champ; Prannoy through to second round
Orleans (France): India’s 19-year-old Ayush Shetty caused a sensation in the men’s singles section of the Orleans Masters badminton championship with a straight games victory over former World Champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in a Round of 32 match here on Wednesday.
Ayush, the talented youngster from Karnataka, defeated Loh Kean Yew, who won the BWF World Championship in 2021, 21-17, 21-9 in a 36-minute clash in the BWF World Tour Super 300 event at the Palais des Sports here. Ayush, a right-handed player who won a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships in 2023, opened up a 4-1 lead in the opening game before Loh closed it to 4-3.
The Indian won four points in a row again, and though the Singapore shuttler levelled scores at 9-9 and 12-12 as the two players went neck-and-neck. But from 14-13, Ayush surged ahead to an 18-13 lead before closing out the game 21-17. Ayush dominated the second game, opening an 11-2 lead and maintaining the upper hand despite a fightback by the Singapore shuttler, and he went on to win the game 21-9 to clinch a memorable victory in their first career meeting.
It was a mixed day for India the experienced H.S. Prannoy made a winning start, beating World No. 24 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in three games. Prannoy, the hero of India’s triumph in the Thomas Cup in 2022, won 21-11, 20-22, 21-9 in a 60-minute encounter. Fellow Indian Kiran George went down to Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore in three games, 21-15, 16-21, 10-21, in just over an hour in another Round of 32 clash on Court 3.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod retired with an injury trailing 6-21, 5-21 in her first-round match, while Unnati Hooda fell at the first hurdle, losing to top-seed and World No.1 An Se Young of South Korea, 9-21, 15-21.
In mixed doubles, India’s Rohan Kapoor and G. Ruthvika Shivani defeated Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei 20-22, 24-22, 21-16 in a hard-fought first-round encounter that lasted one hour. However, another mixed doubles pair, Ashith Surya and Amrutha Prathumesh, went down to Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia 10-21, 15-21.