“His attack reminded me of Viktor Axelsen when he’s absolutely dominant,” said coach Vimal Kumar. “He’s already beaten difficult Top 10s last year, but he’s proving he’s right up there. In my interactions with international coaches, I gather they are really worried about his potential, and fear him due to his height and smashes. When he’s on top of the shuttle he can meet x those punch clears with hard hits that are troubling big names,” he added.

Against Li Shifeng, the longest rally perhaps came when Shifeng desperately tried, when trailing 13-19 in the first set, to construct a maze to tire out Ayush. But the Indian stayed solid, did the due retrieving and finished with a smash, which are mic-drops in the sense that Shifeng rarely got near them.

Guided by Irwansyah, a perfect fit for Ayush as coach, given his classical power stroke-making, the 6’4″ Indian showed composure to work on Shifeng’s game – tease out strands of possible openings, locate the precise incisions on court to land his kills just like Indonesians like Jojo Christie. A bulk of points came from Ayush’s dependable net interceptions. This one point, he tapped it down, seconds after the shuttle crossed the net and smiled wide, to show his mirth at a job well done.

But more than anything, Ayush neatly dispatched all vague, errant lifts and even flick serves to Shifeng’s forehand flank, with smashes that travelled like cannonballs – deep. There’s a million things Ayush could improve on in his defense and movement on court and shot selection, but the smash, even a round the head or the conventional one struck at highest point, is a finished product, ready to dismantle world hierarchies.

It travels at speed, stays within bounds with stinging urgency and lands on the backcourt. A sniper from a vantage. At 9-12, Ayush sent one into the net and he could save tiny energy not grimacing and hopping around. But the very next point, he nailed one to Shifeng’s backhand and was soon level on 12-12 riding momentum, like a blazing comet’s tail. The beauty of the Ayush smash is it doesn’t need to engage with the lines – even against a tall retriever like Shifeng who couldn’t react quick enough to the Indian’s smashes.

In fact, Ayush had trailed mostly for the first half of the second set, but made his way back with crisp shot making and taking the attack to the Chinese. Every Ayush kill was greeted by silence rent with disappointment from the Chinese crowd at Ningbo.

The 21-13, 21-16 victory came from a similar smash – though this time Shifeng who had been pumping his fists start of the set, didn’t even move and returned leaden-footed as a capacity crowd was silenced.

It was supposed to be a battle of big booming attacks, the biggest of Chinese vs biggest of the Indian’s, and the Indian was miles ahead, despite operating only at 70 percent of his all-round attack potential.

Irwansyah’s influence was evident in how Ayush did not prolong the rallies or get lured into needless midcourt exchanges. He can still get sharper and more controlled in defense, but the attack is flowing. He also takes those breathes needed to reorient the nervous energy after a point lost.

While coach Vimal Kumar lauded Ayush’s performance in absolutely blowing away Shi Feng in straight games with fearless, attacking badminton, it was the canny use of smashes that impressed him. “The power, the precision, and those thunderous smashes — the Chinese had no answers, completely unable to read or react. A truly dominant display… one to watch for the future,” he said.

Potential pitfalls for Ayush

Ayush is still vulnerable against opponents who play a certain gear of the game, if not an entire style. While Li Shifeng pushing pace just did not work against him, his last two tournaments showed a chink in the armour. “Ayush played a similar match against Loh Kean Yew but next round Lakshya completely outplayed him. At All England, Alwi (Farhan, of Indonesia) rushed him, and at Swiss, Brian Yang did the same. He will realise he cannot just hit sharp shots all the time. He has attacking clears that he can use,” Vimal says. Ayush will be tested straight away against Taiwanese No 20 Chi Yu Jen on Thursday. “Let’s see tomorrow. This is just one round,” Vimal cautioned.

Those like Alwi and Frenchman Alex Lanier are as old as Ayush, and have worked on the consistency, to start pushing out older players. It’s also why training under Irwansyah, who helped Indonesia’s top men’s singles will help. “We have put together a young group of players to train under Irwansyah alongside Sindhu at our Academy as part of the National camp. Among the girls, Devika Sihag and Isha Rani Barua are included. On the boys’ side, we have promising players like Ansh Negi (current U-19 National Champion), Suryaksh Rawat, a few other upcoming boys, and Ayush Shetty has also joined over the last two weeks,” Vimal informed. Lakshya remains in another group under the Korean coach.

Sindhu grinds out win

PV Sindhu, back on the court after missing the All England, showed the fight that keeps her in contention at the top level. Besides Satwik-Chirag who actually won the title in 2023, Sindhu came closest to making the Asian final, but had lost to Akane Yamaguchi at the penultimate step.

On Wednesday, she played the Malaysian Wong Ling Ching, ranked 38, and lost the first set 15-21. The comeback needed the Indian to perceptibly raise her foot speed and hitting pace to down a pugnacious opponent. The second set achieved parity fast enough, but in the decider, Wong simply hurried the rallies herself drawing out frustrated smash errors from Sindhu.

The Indian was clearly the better player, and led 17-13 but allowed her opponent to claw back into contention at 18-18. Wong dared to take the next point, and that infuriated Sindhu enough to bring in her power – rage at the crunch and muscle her way past the 22 year old.

Sindhu could play All England champ Wang Zhi Yi, a player she defeated at the last World’s, next.