World Junior championships bronze medallist Ayush Shetty edged out Indonesia's Alwi Farhan in a thrilling three-game match to set up an all-Indian final against Sathish Kumar Karunakaran at the Odisha Masters Super 100 badminton tournament in Cuttack on Saturday.
Ayush had lost to Farhan in the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships to settle for a bronze in Spokane, USA. On Saturday, the 18-year-old from Karnataka rallied his way to a 19-21, 21-14, 22-20 win to avenge the loss and enter his maiden Super 100 final in Cuttack.
On Sunday, Ayush will be up against compatriot Sathish, who will also be playing his first Super 100 final of his international career. He entered the summit clash after beating fellow Indian and defending champion Kiran George 18-21, 14-21 in a 41-minute semi-final.
Also making the finals was the mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila after claiming a 21-14, 21-14 win over Denmark's third seed Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch in the semi-finals.
In a 73-minute battle, Ayush, who hails from Sanoor near Karkala in Karnataka, showed his grit as he recovered from a game down to outwit his Indonesian opponent.
The Indian made a good start and held leads of 2-0, 7-4 but Farhan kept himself in the hunt and turned the tables after the interval. He took a 14-12 advantage and then reeled off three more points to eke out a 17-14 lead.
The Indonesian had four game points but Ayush managed to save three of them before Farhan prevailed.
After the change of sides, Farhan marched ahead to a 8-5 lead but Ayush never stopped fighting. He recovered to 10-8 with five straight points and then held on to roar back into the contest.
Things were looking bleak for Ayush in the decider when Farhan grabbed a 13-9 advantage at one stage. But the Indian showed great composure to slowly make his way to 19-19 and 20-20 then nosed ahead.
Having picked up the sport after being influenced by his father, Ayush soon started doing well in the local badminton circuit but lack of proper infrastructure in Sanoor forced him to switch base to Bangalore.
After regularly playing in junior state and national junior-level tournaments, he finally won his first title at the 2022 All India Junior ranking event in Bangalore.
The 22-year-old Sathish, on the other hand, had a good season with men's singles title wins at India International and runner-up finish at Maldives International. He also won the mixed doubles titles with partner Aadya Variyath at the Maldives International and finished second best at Malaysia.
He had also played for Chennai Superstarz in Premier Badminton League in 2020.
