Indian shuttlers Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hood ended their impressive run with semi-final finishes in the men`s and women`s singles, respectively, at the BWF Taipei Open Super 300 badminton tournament.
Ayush, a bronze medallist at the World Junior Championships 2023, kept fighting hard against the World No. Chou Tien Chen. But Ayush fell short as he lost the match by 18-21, 17-21 against a veteran of two decades in the international circuit.
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With immense skills, Ayush had earlier defeated top players such as Lee Chia Hao, Kidambi Srikanth and Brian Yang. Initially, the 20-year-old dominated the game against Chou by showcasing an aggressive approach to register a lead by 8-4. But later, a few mistakes from Ayush helped Chou take the lead and close the gap by 10-9.
From 11-11, both players matched each other point for point. Ayush continued to push with his forehand smashes and attacking play, but Chou`s experience showed.
Later, when the game was set at 18-19, Chou produced a body smash, followed by a backhand shot to seal the first game against the Indian.
In the start of the second game, Ayush continued his aggressive approach to secure a lead of 13-11 at the interval.. Later, the youngster kept fighting back to 14-13, but a couple of long shots hurt his rhythm.
Chou kept up the pressure with angled returns, pushing Ayush to the corners and earning four match points at 20-16. The Indian saved one but eventually sent a backhand into the net to concede the match.
Earlier, Unnati Hooda, the 2022 Odisha Masters and 2023 Abu Dhabi Masters winner, showed early promise but couldn`t sustain the momentum, losing 19-21, 11-21 in 43 minutes to top seed and world No. 8 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan, the 2022 World Junior Champion.
(With PTI Inputs)
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