The future of Indian badminton can wait awhile. Even the past had no bearing on this moment. For it was Lakshya Sen seizing the present, this moment now, in a split-second reaction, that will waltz into any highlights package.
It was the Australian Open Super 500 quarterfinals, and it has been a long fruitless season, this 2025, and in front of him was India’s most touted future talent. But Sen pulled out an absolute stunner that ended in a 23-21, 21-11 win – the first set sizzle completely deflating young Ayush, 20, and teaching him about the hunger to win.
The duo often train at Bangalore’s Padukone academy, and Ayush has served as a sparring partner for Sen’s Olympics preparation. They know each other’s games inside out. Ayush held the advantage of physicality with his 6-foot-4 attack, and Sen is clearly leaps ahead on the net eyeball confrontations.
Sen expectedly stayed in the opening set winning a bulk of the net exchanges, quelling Ayush’s unstinging lifts. He also figured pretty early that Ayush smashes from the far backcourt corner were throttling in the drift and landing in the nets, so he lured him into playing those. But mostly, Sen cleverly constructed his points – kept the tosses high, made Ayush move, and collected winnings on placement and variety in strokes.
At Hong Kong earlier, Sen had needed three sets at a similar quarters stage. Here it all boiled down to five points after the two were locked at 19-19 in the opener.
Sen floated a backhand clear long to go down 19-20. Ayush, still fumbling when he’s up against bigger names, saw his serve clipping the net to make it 20-20. Then Sen pushed him to that dreaded back corner with a flick serve and the smash gpt dumped into the net. 21-20. It’s when Ayush won his first net-confrontation, flicking cleverly to the back. 21-21.
Lakshya Sen in action during the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2025. (Photo: Badminton Photo)
Sen commanded the pressure moments. But he knew Ayush could snatch the opener with a stomp. The next point got attritional – Ayush literally pushed Sen to all four corners, making him scurry around, throwing in a body smash that tested Sen’s agility and pinned him almost midcourt. Ayush next went for what was the logical region where Sen would struggle to reach – the forecourt flank. That’s where Sen brought out his reflexes that have shone at every big stage – Olympics behind-the-back flick against Jojo Christie, and those leadups to All England, and the 2021 World Championships clutch points where his instinctive defense produces gasps and hoots and whistles.
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Sen, a fair distance from the shuttle to his 1 p.m right, went diving after the dipping bird and sent it over the net. Ayush was still in control of the point, and used speed to hit a down stroke to Sen’s left. The senior Indian, was still on the floor, trying to bounce back on his feet and stuck his racquet from a sitting position to intercept the fast travelling shuttle, and rebounded it over the tape with split second alacrity to send it screaming to the backline almost. The Sydney crowd couldn’t believe their eyes, and Sen got up to check if it had landed safely in, for such was the snap of his wrists even from an imbalanced position. 22-21.
OH WOW! What a stunning rally between Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty. At 21-21 no less. 👏🏽🏸
🎥 BWF YouTube pic.twitter.com/hsCLVbvSML
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) November 21, 2025
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Ayush was deflated from that point on barely afloat at 3-9 and 7-19, and crumpled into a heap losing 23-21, 21-11 in 52 long minutes.
Sen, still searching for a title in 2025, runs into Chou Tien Chen – age 35, tenacity – endless. Chou was at it for 1 hr 23 minutes against Indonesia’s next big hope Alwi Farhan, coming back from a set and 15-20 down, saving 5 match points in a 13-21, 23-21, 21-10 win.
Sen and Chou are past that stage when they would expect anything in badminton to come easy to them. But even as Sydney was treated to the never-say-die spirit of two audacious shuttlers, Ayush was left ruing doing everything right in that point at 21-21, but forgetting Lakshya Sen’s appetite for a scrap. His Dive-on-yet-another-Day highlight moment received the DJ’s ultimate compliment – paid to top athletes who wow Australia, a blaring of ‘Sweet Caroline.’
