Ayush Shetty wins silver after loss to Shi Yuqi in Asia Championships

India’s Ayush Shetty finished with a silver medal after losing to China’s Shi Yuqi in the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 final. The 20-year-old had an impressive run, defeating top-ranked players to become the seventh Indian to win a medal

Hyderabad: Ayush Shetty of India lost to China’s Shi Yuqi in the men’s singles final of the Badminton Asia Championships 2026, 8-21, 10-21 in 42 minutes to the local player in Ningbo on Sunday, to finish with a silver medal.

For the 20-year-old Indian shuttler, it was a dream run as the World No. 24 became the seventh Indian to win a men’s singles medal at the event after Dinesh Khanna (gold in 1965 and bronze in 1969), Suresh Goel (bronze in 1965), Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1976), Pullela Gopichand (bronze in 2000), Anup Sridhar (bronze in 2007) and H S Prannoy (bronze in 2018).

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Ayush Shetty and Shi Yuqi have faced each other just twice before today’s final, with the Indian shuttler losing on both occasions at the Indonesia Masters last year and at the Malaysian Open earlier this year.

It may be recalled that Ayush shocked World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semifinal to make it to the final and be assured of a medal.

Among notable wins for Ayush in this edition include a stunning win over World No. 7 Li Shi Feng before beating Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei to qualify for the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, Ayush caused a major upset by knocking out World No. 4 Jonathan Christie to enter the semifinal.