Kodai Naraoka had gotten past the illustrious 6-foot-4 Viktor Axelsen in Round 1 at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 on Wednesday. But the new 6-foot-4 on the rise, Ayush Shetty, proved a little too searing to handle, for the World No 9 Japanese as the Indian won 21-19, 12-21, 21-14 repelling what was a smart trap of a parallel game, plotted by Kodai. After pulling out of the World Championship with the world training its eyes on Paris, Axelsen had even practiced that same week in Dubai with Ayush, his natural 6’4″ “air-apparent.” Axelsen lost, but Ayush returned like an echo ringing out in a valley.
Ayush, barely 20, and looking to get into Top 30 must’ve been the best shuttler around the world, not to qualify for the World’s because of his late ranking surge despite good results over the summer. He won the US Open, and made semis at Taipei and Orleans, but not within the qualifying deadline for Paris.
The towering Mangalorean didn’t just win his first seniors title in 2025, he has had confidence-fortifying wins over Kidambi Srikanth, Chou Tien Chen, Lee Chia Hao, Rasmus Gemke, Toma Popov, Brian Yang, Jason Gunawan and even Loh Kean Yew – all important stepping stones when climbing up the ladder. Moreover, he’s shown the fight to defeat opponents who he loses to in quick turnarounds, pointing to hastened improvements. Kodai was bound to feel the sting of the big game soon enough.
Ayush had an impressive 64 minute win over Taiwanese Su Li Yang in Round 1 at Hong Kong where he’s arrived on the back of a good 40-day training block, though he would have loved to be at Paris, and cause a bit of an inevitable stir. But at the first sighting of a big scalp in Kodai, a World No 9, Ayush picked off from where he had left on Tour, to make his first-ever Super 500 quarterfinal.
Kodai has proven notoriously tough to beat for all top Indians. He’s 5-2 against Lakshya Sen, 6-1 against HS Prannoy, 4-0 against Kidambi Srikanth and 6-0 against Priyanshu Rajawat. The last any Indian has beaten the Japanese, was in June of 23.
On Thursday at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, the calculations on conditions had been a little off from Team Ayush. But he showed great spunk to adapt and improvise, and get the win.
Having watched HS Prannoy defeat Lu Guangzu on the same court, and even Gemke vs Loh Kean Yew, Ayush and his coaching team reckoned the side he was starting off from, was the faster one. “It turned out to be the opposite,” said coach Sagar Chopda. “It turned out slower.”
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Kodai, seeded fifth, though, came out all guns blazing, in a very uncharacteristic start from the Japanese who loves his harp-like tenor which lulls opponents before he goes slashing at the end. Against Ayush, he started on the hyper offensive. “He was aggressive, very unlike Kodai, playing flat and into Ayush’s body,” Chopda explained. The box game with nippy parallels tend to be awkward for Ayush.
Where the Indian did well was in adjusting to these unexpected developments – striking the right length fast enough to nick the opener 21-19. Also an early misjudgment was allowing Kodai to dictate from the net, as the Japanese is one of the better front court controllers. Kodai was approaching the net quicker and blunting the Ayush dribbles at will. In the opening round, Su Li Yang had done exactly that, but Kodai had some exquisite crosses he played to counter dribble, with fosbury flop angles.
While the Japanese was pushing Ayush back and diagonal, one of the Indian’s biggest improvements shone through. Backpedaling, Ayush has developed good balance and control on strokes should he need to lapse from his preferred net perch. So even as he’s tracking back, he can play the expansive cross court smash which helped him pull away to 18-16, though he had an awry service into the net at 16-16. But he pulled out the big straight round the head smash in the nick of time, to take the opener 21-19 pinning Kodai’s forehand into submission.
From the slower side in the next set, Kodai was most comfortable. Not only was he picking the big attack but also proved sharper at the net, chopping under Ayush’s net tumbles and never allowing him to settle.
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The decider though saw the Indian display just why he’s rated so high to succeed in coming years. Kodai had the second 21-12, but the coaching bench was clear on one thing – Ayush had the license to lift, for Kodai lacks a big hit, the decisive smash. “Ayush got a hang of the slower side, got a good 11-5 lead and then kept the pressure on,” Chopda described the decider.
Ayush has also shown great nerves these last two days. Yesterday, he changed a racquet mid-rally to win it even. Against Kodai in decider at 3-1, he kept a rally going for 3 more shots after his strings broke and even managed a short flattish smash winner. Kodai continued his net sorcery, but it was at 13-5 that Ayush made his persistence at the net count with a quick slash follow up on the backhand for a net kill, even as he had succeeded in pushing the Japanese back.
There weren’t exactly too many long rallies, but Ayush has a workable holding game when he can scatter the shuttle high while not expending too much energy. He dived in vain once, but the sight of a 6’4″ leaping at the net was like watching a giant whale threaten to gnash, and Kodai was suitably pushed back. He sent wide a drop at 20-13, and smashed wide for 20-14. But his looming midcourt pinging smashes and the expansive cross winners were enough to get the job done.
“With Kodai even if you lead 11-5, you have to grind out to get the next 10 points. Not too many Indians have beaten him because he can come back from any trailing score and dictate pace to snatch matches. But Ayush did well,” Chopda said.
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Good day for Indians
India’s top contenders Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced into quarters.
While Sen beat back a fighting yet fading HS Prannoy 15-21, 21-18, 21-10, Satwik-Chirag needed to switch plans to parry off buzzing Thais Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul 18-21, 21-15, 21-11.
While the commentator Jeevan Selvanathan was understandably impressed with the Thai hustle, the World Championship bronze winning Indians proved to be cooler cats, altering their plans, just like Ayush later, to cruise home in three.
