CHENNAI: Ayush Shetty had been living a dream since the start of April. After his exploits at the Asia Championships in China, where he captured a rare silver, he was once again producing high-quality badminton to take down big rivals including All England and India Open winner Lin Chun-yi in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Thomas Cup at Horsens, Denmark, on Friday. Wins that were adding to his growing reputation.
However on Saturday, just a day before his 21st birthday, Ayush hit a wall in the form of Christo Popov.
In the first men's singles against France in the last-four stage in the absence of senior compatriot Lakshya Sen, Ayush was simply no match for Christo.
The Indian was a helpless figure as the left-handed Christo, with his fine smashes aimed towards the backhand, put up a masterclass to walk away with an easy victory (21-11, 21-9).
Ayush is still raw at this level and that was evident during the match as he just couldn't figure out Christo's game. On Friday, Ayush, known for his power game, had conjured some delicate touches to the other side of his game. Over the course of the tournament, he had shown his ability to course-correct in-game and find solutions. But on the day, he was blank. It was as though his system had malfunctioned. Christo, on the other hand, continued to press on before polishing off the tie within 39 minutes.
"A bit disappointed with the performance today but Christo played a solid game... I was really not stable on the court, overall his pace was really high and putting the pressure on me," Ayush later reflected.
"My overall game plan was not right today. The plan was to put the pressure on him but he really pushed the pace and was not giving me a chance near the net. He dominated the net and the shuttles were a bit fast today. That made the difference."
With India, looking to retrace 2022 gold, on the backfoot and Lakshya unavailable for the tie as he had endured some knocks during his quarterfinal tie, the onus was now on seniors — Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy — to help the team flip the script.
Srikanth, the former World No 1 who was instrumental in the team's 2022 success, showed plenty of heart, especially in Game 2, in his tie against Alex Lanier. But that was all in vain as Lanier handed France a 2-0 lead with a 21-16, 21-18 win.
Prannoy, featuring in the third singles, threw the kitchen sink and was leading against Toma Junior Popov until the business end of the opening game but the latter recovered in the nick of time to seal a handsome win (21-19, 21-16) for France. France, who sealed their first-ever medal at the premier competition a day ago, now have the chance to put the icing on the cake when they take on China in the gold-medal match. China beat hosts Denmark 3-0 in the other semifinal.