The Chinese World No 1 could be brought under pressure. But Ayush Shetty had fewer tricks up his strapped shoulder when he ran into Indonesia’s heir apparent, Alwi Farhan.
The two have battled plenty in their junior years, with the technically solid Alwi using his overhead deception from a jump smash to bring down many reigning stars. But the 21-year-old expected to take over the mantle from Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting, put up a seamless display of technical badminton, as Ayush seemed restricted in his smashes and unable to hassle Alwi with just the net prods.
Alwi comfortably won 21-19, 21-11 in 45 minutes, as Indian challenge in men’s singles ended at the pre quarters stage.
Ayush’s new-found and nascent stardom filled up four levels of the Indira Gandhi stadium. It got the Delhi decibel amplified as crowds trooped in to watch the new slayer of the Chinese dragon, hoping he would go deep into the weekend here. But though he is a name that can fill up an Indian arena, he isn’t quite someone who will get them to return towards the business end of the World’s. Yet. He would get bundled in the Last 16 on his debut.
Alwi Farhan crouches low like a wrestler and soars for a smash as a habit. What Ayush did early was simply take the pace off the returns and induce in the Indonesian restlessness as he thrashed it into the net. An early Alwi jump smash and net kill were a sampling of what the young rival could unleash. But Ayush was determined to use the net as a party-popping trick, blunting the rally.
Alwi’s overhead deception is going to pose problems to everyone in coming years, and the lifts the Indian sent up to guage lengths oftentimes got him punished as Alwi was ferocious in his attack.
It was pretty evident that Ayush’ best bet was at the net from where his angled pushes and flicks could simply find Alwi out of position. Or trapped on the parallels.
Alwi defeated Ayush in the semis of the Junior World Championships and has transitioned to seniors seamlessly. He plays a simple game with speed and a steeple smash which is formidable in how he can find numerous ways to hit straight to the back court. It gave him a 18-14 lead. But also Ayush the trigger to switch up the game. He cut down on lifts and pushed flat crosses forth to navigate the critical period from 14-18 down to taking the 19-18 lead. It wasn’t enough however, to stall Alwi who picked the opener 21-19.
There wasn’t a single smash-winner from the Indian in this end phase.
The second set ended even more tamely as Alwi was comfortably striking from the faster side, and didn’t need massive variations as he took the net out of the equation and kept a steady stream of back court winners. Ayush was extremely tentative on the side lift and never quite found his range, trailing start to finish against the 11th seed.
Ayush the disruptor was evident on Day 1 when he took out Shi Yuqi. Alwi might well thank him for clearing the path. Ayush, the destructor, though, isn’t quite the finished product. His endurance on the third straight match day, left lot to be desired.
