India’s Ayush Shetty produced a major upset at the badminton World Championships by knocking out defending champion and world number one Shi Yuqi of China 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 in the men’s singles first round on Monday in New Delhi.

The 21-year-old, making his World Championships debut, took the opening game with an aggressive display at the net before Shi levelled the contest.

Shetty then built an 11-5 lead in the decider and held off a late fightback from the Chinese top seed to seal a landmark victory and advance to the second round.

The result marked a dramatic reversal from their previous meeting in the Badminton Asia Championships final in April, when Shi swept aside Shetty in 40 minutes.

The victory was Shetty’s first over Shi after three successive defeats, with the Indian crediting the home crowd for helping him over the line.

“Crowd was really behind and gave me the energy. They kept cheering for me. It gave me a lot of energy,” Shetty said.