PETALING JAYA: India have bowed out of the Thomas Cup Finals but their rising star Ayush Shetty has certainly underlined his growing class in this year's edition.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, the 21-year-old was handed the responsibility of playing first singles in the absence of Lakshya Sen, who sat out due to an elbow injury.
Ayush tried to rise to the occasion but Christo Popov was in his element, as the Indian went down 11-21, 9-21 in 39 minutes at the Forum Horsens.
The 2022 champions eventually suffered a 3-0 defeat after their other singles also fell short.
K. Srikanth lost 16-21, 18-21 to Alex Lanier while H. S. Prannoy went down 19-21, 16-21 to Toma Junior Popov as France continued their dream run in the Finals.
France, who have never gone beyond the quarter-finals in the past, will now face defending champions China in the final. China defeated Denmark 3-0 in the other semi-finals.
For Ayush, it was only his first defeat in the Finals campaign, having delivered in all his previous matches.
He had clinched the third and winning point as second singles by beating Lin Chun-yi in the quarter-finals against Taiwan, and also maintained a clean slate in the group stage with wins over Weng Hongyang (Chn), Brian Yang (Can) and Shrey Dhand (Aus).
Despite the loss, Ayush remained composed and is determined to learn from the experience.
"I’m a bit disappointed with the performance but Christo played solid. His deception caught me off guard and I was not really stable on my feet," said Ayush as quoted by www.timesnownews.com.
"I think my overall game plan was not right. He just outclassed me."
Ayush is ranked 18th in the world and did well to finish runner-up at the recent Asian Championships.
He is expected to continue pushing the top players as he aims to follow in the footsteps of his country’s great predecessors.
RESULTS
THOMAS CUP
Semi-finals: France bt India 3-0 (Christo Popov bt Ayush Shetty 21-11, 21-9; Alex Lanier bt K. Srikanth 21-16, 21-18; Toma Junior Popov bt H. S. Prannoy 21-19, 21-16); China bt Denmark 3-0 (Shi Yuqi bt Anders Antonsen 21-16, 21-5; Liang Wengkeng-Wang Chang bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-18, 21-7; Li Shifeng bt Magnus Johannesen 21-19, 18-21, 21-9).
