Ayush Shines, Reaches Quarterfinals; Sindhu and Prannoy Exit Early

Ningbo: India’s rising shuttler Ayush Shetty kept his impressive run going at the Badminton Asia Championships, advancing to the quarterfinals with a straight-game victory on Thursday. Meanwhile, seasoned players PV Sindhu and H. S. Prannoy bowed out after second-round defeats.

Ayush, who won the US Open 2025, comfortably defeated Chin Yu Jen 21-16, 21-12 in just 41 minutes. He had earlier stunned fifth seed Li Shi Feng in the opening round and will now face Indonesia’s third seed Jonatan Christie in the last eight.

On the other hand, Prannoy’s campaign ended after a 12-21, 19-21 loss to Hong Kong’s Weng Hong Yang, despite starting strong with a win over Nguyen Hai Dang in the previous round.

In women’s singles, Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat against China’s Wang Zhi Yi, a two-time Asian champion and second seed. Sindhu had earlier fought hard to move past Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching in her opening match.

India also faced disappointment in mixed doubles, where Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila lost 13-21, 14-21 to the fourth-seeded pair of Toh Ee Wei and Chang Ten Jie.

Looking ahead, Unnati Hooda is set to face Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki after pulling off an upset against Supanida Katethong. In women’s doubles, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra will take on Japan’s fifth-seeded duo Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto for a place in the quarterfinals.

With inputs from IANS