But then Hulk hunkered down. He began seeing a psychologist to deal with his own expectations, above all else. At the Badminton Asia Championships, when a few line calls went against him, his team was on the edge about how he would react. He let it go, and went on to defeat World No 7 and local favourite in Ningbo, Li Shifeng, in the opening round and after defeating No 20 Chi Yu Jen 21-16, 21-12, finds himself in the quarters now, up against Jonatan Christie.

A back injury at the Australian Open at the end of 2025 had ruined Ayush’s off-season plans. But he had been putting in the work, building towards a good week. Playing Shi Yuqi in Malaysia had been a good experience; though he couldn’t defeat him, Ayush landed in Ningbo, leaner and fitter, with no injury concerns.

Prior to this, he had decided to put in a week of training ahead of the All England instead of playing the German Open, defying his coaches. It signalled the youngster taking responsibility and thinking independently. Though he had lost to Alwi Farhan in three sets in Birmingham and an important match against Korea in the Asian team event, where he played first singles, things are coming together for Ayush at BAC 2026.

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Much of the fast-paced rallies saw him stationed at the forecourt in a squat, leaning slightly behind, and intercepting shuttles coming from both flanks. He had the midcourt covered. Where he really took off was at 14-13 down, as he went on a 5-point flurry, moving in quickly at the net. There he wielded the racquet like a scythe, a small axe, a flipping spatula, a turning key even and a Swiss knife. All the various tumbles, dribbles, flicks, pushes and taps – played at will, like Malaysian doubles star Aaron Chia with Chirag Shetty’s energy. The deceptions and variety were manifold.

The big-looking smash is a great weapon to stun out opponents, like at 8-7 in the second when a flick serve was pulped down with vehemence. Next point, Ayush accepted the challenge of a doubles style, fast parallel exchange, and the hand speed fetched him a point. A sharp net dribble at 13-8 helped him widen the gap between him and the Taiwanese and slowly put it beyond the opponent.

The chiselling mallet hammer was back as he took a 19-11 lead and raced away to a win in 41 minutes.

He has kept his celebrations minimal even after beating the Chinese fifth seed, and has sharpened his accuracy in the down shots. Chi copped a few body line smashes, but even his down-the-line overheads are travelling deep.

Head coach Sagar Chopda in Bangalore says he’s happy with the pushes at the net – it’s a skill Ayush has had since Mangalore, but only recently learnt to disguise its timing. “Opponents are expecting him to dribble, but he plays it at the last second with deception. And if he misses it, and the shuttle goes to midcourt, they can pounce on it. But he’s playing them well,” Chopda says.

The anger travels with him, but Ayush has learnt to use it. “More than others, it’s his expectations of himself. People expected him to be the next young player after Lakshya (Sen). But things take time. He’s learning things will happen if he works hard, even if they take time. It’s self-made pressure, but he’s getting good at managing his own expectations,” Chopda says.

Jojo Christie next

As Ayush lines up for the quarterfinals, he will face world No 4 Jonatan Christie next.

Jojo is now an independent athlete away from the formal Indonesian system, and this happened soon after the departure of Coach Irwansyah to India. Irwansyah polished Jojo’s game to the extent that he won the Asian Games gold in 2018, and maxed out a strictly accurate game into a tactical winning juggernaut for Indonesia.

Christie was taken out of the Paris Olympics by Lakshya Sen, and Ayush will have plenty of background research to work with. But most importantly, he will have Irwansyah in his corner now. Christie, 28, loves pinging the forehand back court corners of opponents. So expect Ayush to be sent scurrying to the baseline every now and then. He is also considerably sharper at the net – a proper Top 5 opponent, with pace variations and not prone to losing patience or hassled by a big game.