At just 20 years old, Ayush Shetty<\/b> has emerged as one of India\u2019s brightest badminton prospects. The Mangaluru shuttler from Karkala recently clinched a historic silver medal at the 2026 Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China \u2014 India\u2019s first men\u2019s singles silver<\/b> at the event in 61 years. After stunning top players including World No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Jonatan Christie, and Li Shi Feng, Shetty fell to China\u2019s Shi Yuqi in the final. Yet that breakthrough has ignited his campaign for the Thomas Cup, which begins April 24 in Denmark.<\/p>\n
Beyond the court, Shetty draws unexpected strength from Japanese anime.<\/b> One Piece<\/b> tops his list, with Roronoa Zoro<\/b> as his favourite character. As per The New Indian Express report, in a chat with\u00a0CE<\/em> in Bengaluru, Shetty said, \u201cHe is hardworking, disciplined in pursuing his goals, loyal to his crew, and wants to become the best in the world, which inspires me a lot\u201d. The epic tales of perseverance and strategy help him reset after intense training sessions and matches. He also frequently revisits Attack on Titan<\/b>, appreciating its themes of resilience amid struggle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These stories go beyond entertainment. Shetty binge-watches episodes post-training because they are quick and recharge him with positive energy. The psychological boost translates into on-court creativity \u2014 mixing shots, breaking rhythms, and building defensive resilience, much like the unpredictable battles in his favourite series. \u201cIt is a space that not only helps me switch off, but also shapes my mindset,\u201d he explained. He even dreams of delivering smashes with anime-like speed and ferocity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now in Denmark preparing for his Thomas Cup debut<\/b>, Shetty joins a strong Indian squad featuring Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and the formidable doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty. Fresh off his Asia silver, the 20-year-old carries renewed belief: \u201cWinning silver has been a huge source of motivation\u2026 it pushes me to raise my level<\/b>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As India aims for a second Thomas Cup title, Shetty\u2019s unique blend of elite athletic discipline and anime-inspired mental toughness could prove a game-changer. In a sport as demanding as badminton, this young giant-slayer is writing his own epic one smash at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At just 20 years old, Ayush Shetty has emerged as one of India\u2019s brightest badminton prospects. The Mangaluru shuttler from\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":502,"featured_media":49481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5249,5251,5110,2960,5250],"class_list":["post-49480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-badminton","tag-anime","tag-attack-on-titans","tag-ayush-shetty","tag-lakshya-sen","tag-one-piece"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/502"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49488,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49480\/revisions\/49488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}