India’s next generation arrives at the BWF World Championships
When Indian badminton comes up in conversation, the names that surface first are usually PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and the world doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. But when the BWF World Championships get underway at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Arena from August 17 to 23, it will do so with four Indians walking into the tournament for the very first time. Ayush Shetty, Unnati Hooda, Simran Singhi and Kavipriya Selvam arrive on the back of breakthrough seasons, and their debut coincides with badminton’s biggest event returning to Indian soil for only the second time, after Hyderabad hosted it in 2009. Ayush Shetty Ayush Shetty’s progress over the past two seasons has been one of the more striking stories in Indian men’s singles. The Karnataka shuttler, who trains out of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, first drew attention with a bronze medal at the 2023 BWF World Junior Championships before making the switch to the senior circuit. His breakthrough arrived in June 2025 at the US Open Super 300 in Council …









