# Ayush Shetty drawn against Shi Yuqi in BWF World Championships opener 2026-08-05T23:15:06+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk The BWF World Championships were scheduled to run in New Delhi from 17 to 23 August, and the draw pitted Asian Championships silver medallist Ayush Shetty against China's world champion Shi Yuqi in the men's singles opening round, IndiaTV News reported. The pairing repeats the Asian Championships final, which Shetty lost to Shi Yuqi. The draw also fixed first-round opponents for P V Sindhu and Lakshya Sen: Sophia Nobel of Ireland for Sindhu and Collins Valentine Filimon of Austria for Sen, with Sen a possible round-of-16 opponent for Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. National head coach Pullela Gopichand called it a good draw from an Indian perspective, adding that meeting Shi Yuqi in the first round suited Shetty's attacking style and that winning it would open up the rest of the draw for him. ## Indian Opinion Analysis A draw sets the schedule, not the result, so pairing Shetty against a player he lost to at the Asian Championships establishes an early rematch rather than a foregone outcome. Gopichand's comment that an early meeting with Shi Yuqi suits Shetty's game is the coach's own read of the matchup, offered before either has played a point in New Delhi. The report also stops at the round of 16 for Sindhu's and Sen's likely paths, without carrying either into the medal rounds. The 17 to 23 August championship itself, and specifically the Shetty-Shi Yuqi opener, is what would turn this draw into a result. ## Coverage - www.indiatvnews.com Tags: Ayush Shetty, BWF World Championships Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/bwf-world-championships-draws-revealed-ayush-shetty-faces-stern-test-sindhu-lakshyas-opponents-confirmed/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/bwf-world-championships-draws-revealed-ayush-shetty-faces-stern-test-sindhu-lakshyas-opponents-confirmed/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.