'AYUSH HAS THE ABILITY TO BECOME NEXT LAKSHYA SEN'

THE wait is finally over for Indian badminton. In the wee hours (IST) on Monday, shuttler Ayush Shetty pulled off a noteworthy victory at the Mid America Centre in the USA.

- ANMOL GURUNG @Chennai

The 20-year-old shuttler from Karnataka captured India's first title of the season on BWF World Tour. The lanky shuttler, who stands 6 feet, 4 inches tall, capped off his eye-catching run in the US Open, a Super 300 event, with a straight-games (21-18, 21-13) win over Brian Yang of Canada. Given the current landscape of Indian badminton, Ayush's title is massive.

Ayush is one of the youngsters who's looking to establish himself at the elite level. Known for his booming smashes, something that he employed regularly to trouble his opponents in the US, Ayush has been showing signs of promise for some time. After a rocky run at the start of the season, he had beaten former world champ Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in March and has been on the ascendancy since that win. People who have seen him up close are not surprised by his latest exploits. Krishna Kumar S, who groomed Ayush during his junior days, is stoked with the youngster's run. Krishna spotted him during a State (Karnataka) meet in Udupi and brought him to train at his academy (i-SPORTS) in Bengaluru. Even during his salad days, there was something special about Ayush.