Ayush Shetty at Asian Games 2026: Men's Singles and Team Events

Ayush made his Asian Games debut at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, where all badminton was played at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium. He is India's No. 2 men's singles player behind Lakshya Sen. In the team event, India beat Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals, with Ayush winning his match, before losing 3-1 to China in the semi-finals and finishing with bronze.

Ayush lost his match in that semi-final to China's Li Shi Feng in straight games, 19-21, 13-21. In singles, he beat Kazakhstan's Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-7 in the round of 32 but lost to Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in the round of 16. See the full Asian Games 2026 badminton schedule for every India match.

Ayush's team bronze was India's only badminton medal at the Games. In singles, he came in with big wins behind him, including a victory over Li Shi Feng at the Asia Championships in April, but his run ended against Chou Tien Chen after he levelled the match with a second-game win.

Read our complete guide to Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, check the Asian Games 2026 India schedule, and see where to watch Asian Games 2026 live in India.

Ayush Shetty is an Indian men's singles badminton player who has moved from promising junior to one of the most dangerous players on the circuit in less than three years. At 1.95 m, he uses his height for a big smash and sharp overhead angles, and he is also comfortable at the net. His attacking, expansive game has led to frequent comparisons with Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

What stands out is how quickly the results have arrived. His first senior title came in 2025, and by April 2026 he had reached a continental final and climbed to a career-high world ranking of 18.

Ayush Shetty was born on 3 May 2005 in Sanoor, a small town near Karkala in Karnataka. He grew up in the Mangaluru region and took to badminton early. In 2021 he won the Denmark Junior International, which was one of his first notable titles.

His first big result on the world stage came at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Spokane, USA, where he won bronze in the boys' singles. He lost the semi-final to Indonesia's Alwi Farhan and became only the sixth Indian male to win a medal at the event.

After moving to the senior circuit in 2023, Ayush came close to titles several times without winning one. That changed in June 2025 at the US Open Super 300 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He beat Chou Tien Chen, then ranked around the world's top six, in the semi-finals and defeated Canada's Brian Yang 21-18, 21-13 in the final.

It was his first title at any senior level, and it made him the first Indian to win a BWF World Tour title in 2025. He followed it up in September 2025 with a win over Japan's Kodai Naraoka, a former world No. 2, at the Hong Kong Open.

In April 2026, at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, Ayush ran through a stacked draw. He beat world No. 7 Li Shi Feng in the opening round, then Chi Yu Jen, then world No. 4 Jonatan Christie, and in the semi-finals he came back to beat world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

He lost the final 21-8, 21-10 to Shi Yuqi, but the silver was still historic. It was India's first men's singles silver at the event, and he became the youngest Indian male shuttler to win a medal there at 20. He was the first Indian men's singles finalist since Dinesh Khanna won the title in 1965.

Ayush went straight from Ningbo to the Thomas Cup in Denmark, where he played the crucial third match of India's ties and helped the team win bronze in Horsens. In August, on his World Championships debut in New Delhi, he beat defending champion and top seed Shi Yuqi 21-14, 13-21, 21-19. It was his first win over Shi in four meetings, and he saved four match points along the way.

Those results, together with his continental silver, are why he arrived in Japan as one of India's biggest badminton names heading into the Asian Games.

• First Indian to win a BWF World Tour title in 2025 (US Open)
• First Indian to win a men's singles silver at the Badminton Asia Championships
• Youngest Indian male shuttler to win a medal at the Badminton Asia Championships
• Beat defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yuqi on his World Championships debut
• Reached a career-high world ranking of 18 in April 2026

Ayush Shetty's rise has been quick, but it has also been steady. A junior medallist who took a while to win his first senior title has become a player that the world's best expect to face. He returned from his first Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with a team bronze, and a first individual medal at the Games is the next step.

For his full profile, rankings and competition history, see Ayush Shetty on Wikipedia.