Ahead of India Open debut, Ayush Shetty looks to live up to the hype

A day before he will compete at the India Open badminton tournament in New Delhi, Ayush Shetty approached senior compatriot H.S. Prannoy for some advice to deal with the nerves he was feeling. The stress though, wasn’t due to the fact that he would be making his debut at the World Tour 750 event against Indian No. 1 Lakshya Sen. Rather, it was because he’d learned that he was going to be making another debut – in the pre tournament press conference.

“It’s the first time I’m doing this. Before this (the conference), I went and asked Prannoy  bhaiyya what I was going to be asked and what all I should say,” he tells Sportstar a bit sheepishly.

The fact that Ayush was indeed called to the stage and that he shared it with double-Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu, World medallist Prannoy and Asian Games champion and world medallist doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, give an idea of the kind of expectations the 20-year-old carries on his broad shoulders.

Ayush is currently ranked 32, second highest for an Indian men’s singles player after Lakshya (WR 13). He’s racked up a number of career highlights over the past year. He won the US Open World Tour 300 last year – the first major title for an Indian in 2025 (Lakshya later won the Australian Open at the end of the year). He’s also notched up a number of high profile scalps. He twice beat World No. 9 Kodai Naraoka and former World Champion Loh Kean Yew, and overcame World No. 6 Chou Tien-chen at the US Open. Last week, he beat Olympic bronze-medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and then took one game before going down in three against World champion Shi Yuqi of China at the Malaysia Open.

His coaches are optimistic about his prospects. “India has had a number of talented men’s singles players but after Lakshya, Srikanth and Prannoy, most of theme were stuck between World No. 35 to 40. Ayush has started to graduate from competing at the World Tour 300 stage to the top level of world badminton. Even though he’s not winning tournaments just yet, he’s already regularly beating players in the top 10,” says former national coach Vimal Kumar, who is also head coach at the high performance academy in Bangalore where Ayush has been training since 2020.

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In fact even before his breakout win in the USA last year, Vimal says Ayush had been praised by double Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. “They had had a training camp together in Marseille just before the Olympics and there Viktor said that Ayush reminded him of a younger version of himself,” Vimal tells Sportstar.

A glance at Ayush is enough for you to see the resemblance. At six-foot-five, Ayush is slightly taller than Viktor – one of the tallest singles players in international badminton. That height gives Ayush immense reach and power. “He has some really good shots from the back of the court and he is very strong at the net as well,” says Vimal.

That height is a double-edged sword though. “One of the challenges with my height is that defense and movement is harder for me compared to others. I also have to work really hard on my fitness,” Ayush says. Indeed, Ayush has been travelling with a physio to help him recover between matches after having suffered a minor back niggle late last year.

Early belief

There’s work to be done but Ayush believes he has it in him. He’s always thought so. Growing up in Karakala, a small town of 30,000, an hour’s drive north of Mangalore, professional sports wasn’t on the horizon for Ayush. “I don’t have any sportsperson in my family. My father works at a bank. He was interested in badminton and I started playing in the backyard of my home. I slowly started enjoying it. There was no real coach or training partner but even at that age I thought I would one day become the best in the world. I saw videos of players like Lee Chong Wei and Axelsen and I would think that one day, I’d be playing in the biggest stage as well. I know all kids say this but I really believed it,” he says.

Even though they had no knowledge of sport, Ayush’s family supported him. At 12, he moved to Bangalore along with his mother and sister so he could get better training. After four years at a smaller academy, he was scouted by Centre for Badminton Excellence (then known as the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy).

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Since his time at the Centre for Badminton Excellence, he’s made his way past a number of similarly talented youngsters to be at the top of the prospect pile. “A lot of youngsters fall away and don’t always do justice to their talent. What helped Ayush is that he has a calm temperament. He doesn’t think that he knows everything and is always willing to learn,” says Vimal.

Ayush says he’s watched and learned a lot from Lakshya himself, who was his senior at the academy. “I’ve grown up watching Lakshya. He is an amazing player with the best speed and strokes. But when I saw his career progress it was a big lesson to me because I saw how hard he worked. I saw just how hard it was to get to where he is. That’s what I learned the most from him,” he says.

When he takes on Lakshya in the opening round of the India Open, all respect will have to be put to one side as he hopes to register his first win in three senior encounters against the senior partner. “I know the crowd will be cheering for him because he is the favourite. But I hope I make it a good match,” Ayush says.

Regardless of how the match goes, Ayush and his coaches have big plans for the 2026 season. “There are a lot of tournaments (Asian Games and the World Championships) this year. He has to work on his physicality but I think we will see some strong performances from him this year. I think he has it in him to be a top 10 player,” says Vimal.

That’s indeed Ayush’s target for the end of the season. “I’ve set myself the target of entering the top 10 by the end of the year. I know it will be hard. The fact that I’m playing top level tournaments means that there’s no easy matches for me. But I’m not afraid of anyone,” he says.

The only thing that might take some getting used to is the pre-tournament press conferences though. But there’s no avoiding that. “When I asked Prannoy  bhaiyya how I should deal with them, he only said that I’ll get used to it because I’ll have to do a lot of them in the future,” Ayush says. 

Published on Jan 12, 2026