3 min readUpdated: Apr 10, 2026 03:56 PM IST
It wasn’t just that Indonesian coach Irwansyah was in the Indian corner when Ayush Shetty defeated his ace former protege Jonatan Christie. Vimal Kumar, the lead coach at Ayush’s badminton academy also found himself in badminton-mad Indonesia, on the morning of their face-off.
The win sets up a semis face-off with World No 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Unlike India where the second biggest broadcaster refused to renew TV rights for the Badminton Asia Championships which meant Indian’s were left scrambling for stray streams to catch the match – only from one angle! – the Ayush-Jojo match was the highlight of the Indonesian sporting day. India’s lead broadcaster was left showing the European championships.
Vimal Kumar, in Indonesia for a private wedding, flew into the country and caught the excitement akin to cricket in India. “Jonatan is their No 1 player, like Virat Kohli. Every channel was showing the Asian Championship. Their other players Alwi Farhan and Ubaidullah had lost, but this was the big one,” he said.
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On the long ride from the airport, Vimal only had to mention badminton, and his entire journey was filled with plenty of chatter, with players from past and present. “The following is huge in Indonesia. My taxi driver, an old fellow, recalled matches of Liem Swi King, Rudi Hartono and Prakash (Padukone). The match was yet to begin and I saw it in my hotel room only. But we had a long chat. He seemed to be very upset that Indonesia hadn’t producer a women’s great after Susi Susanti. And wasn’t particularly impressed with the current lot,” Vimal said.
The win over the World No 4 had made his day, but the match had a few nervy moments for him. “First set was crucial and I thought Ayush was a little sluggish. But when it matters over last 3 matches at Ningbo, Ayush played good positive badminton which was impressive. It was a fantastic effort from 18-20 down. Even end of 2nd set, he kept good length and kept shuttle deep which Christie wasn’t expecting since many shuttles were floating out. But Ayush controlled it well,” he said.
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When the 20 year old was tiring he also took a good break at 17-18 which shows he is in the big league. Top players tend to know these things, Vimal added. “Asians are as good as the World’s,” he would say, adding these were good results with wins over Christie and Li Shifeng, in a week.
More than Christie, one look behind from Ayush towards Irwansyah, pointed to a possible crisis. Ayush had broken strings of over 7-8 racquets and ran the risk of running out of racquets. Irwansyah, an experienced ace coach, not just on court coach, will need to manage the stringing issues, going ahead.
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