4 min readApr 8, 2026 10:20 AM IST After Lakshya Sen decimated the Chinese men’s singles at All England, Ayush Shetty kept the powerhouse under the pump, with a stunningly poised and powerful win over Li Shifeng in the first round of the Badminton Asian Championship. The Indian attack quite simply overran the most attacking of China’s shuttlers, as the World No 25 Indian defanged World No 7 Shifeng, playing crisp, crackling badminton. It took 55 minutes, mostly to overhaul early set leads (7.5. 8-5) from Shifeng. The Chinese, just 26 is already from a generation that is being challenged and pushed out by the new bunch of post-teens. The longest rally perhaps came when Shifeng desperately tried, when trailing 13-19 in the first set to construct a maze to tire out Ayush. But the Indian stayed solid, did the due retrieving and finished with a smash, which are mic-drops in the sense that Shifeng rarely got near them. Guided by Irwansyah, a perfect fit for Ayush as coach, given his classical power stroke-making, the …