Ruichang China Masters 2024: Ayush Shetty's defeat in quarter-finals brings India's campaign to end

Ruichang [China], March 23 (ANI): India's young shuttler Ayush Shetty's campaign in the ongoing Ruichang China Masters 2024 came to an end following a defeat in the quarter-finals of the men's singles event at the Ruichang Sports Park Gym.
On Friday, Shetty ended up suffering a 21-9, 18-21, 21-16 defeat to People's Republic of China shuttler Dong Tian Yao in a game that lasted for an hour and seven minutes. Shetty, currently ranked world No. 76 fought an evenly matched game against world No. 369 Dong in the first game till 4-4.
Dong switched gears and went on to take seven points on the trot and made the scoreline 11-4. Shetty broke Dong's streak but the Chinese shuttler went on to claim four consecutive points taking the first game completely out of Shetty's reach. He went on to seal the first game 21-9.
The BWF World Junior Championships bronze medallist made a comeback in the second game and took an early 5-1 lead against Dong. However, Dong recovered and brought the game back to parity with the scoreline reading 10-10.
The second game was closely fought but Shetty managed to edge past Dong and secure the second game with a 21-18 win.
In the match decider, both shuttles fought hard and made each other work hard for each point. The game was evenly balanced until Dong applied pressure after the halfway point which helped him prevail over Shetty and seal his spot in the next round.
Shetty's exit brought an end to India's challenge at the Ruichang China Masters 2024. Earlier in the competition Kartikey Gulshan Kumar and Raghu Mariswamy were knocked out in the men's singles round of 32.
In the men's doubles event, the pair of Dingku Singh Konthoujam and Amaan Mohammad lost 21-14, 21-9 to China's Deng Cheng Hao and Fan Jun Lin and crashed out in the Round of 32. (ANI)