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The Chinese World No.1 could be brought under pressure. But Ayush Shetty had fewer tricks up his sleeve when he ran into Indonesia’s heir apparent Alwi Farhan. The two have battled plenty in their junior years, with the technically solid Alwi using his overhead deception from a jump smash to bring down many stars. The 21-year-old, expected to take over the mantle from Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting, put on a seamless display of technical badminton, as Ayush seemed restricted in his smashes and unable to hassle his opponent with just net prods on his World Championships debut. Alwi comfortably won 21-19, 21-11 in 45 minutes, as the Indian challenge in men’s singles ended at the Round of 16 stage. Ayush’s new-found and nascent stardom filled up four levels of the Indira Gandhi stadium. It got the Delhi decibel amplified as crowds trooped in to watch the new slayer of the Chinese dragon, hoping he would go deep into the weekend. But though he is a name that can fill up an Indian arena, he isn’t quite someone who will get them to return towards the business end of the Worlds, yet. Alwi crouches low like a wrestler and soars for a smash as a habit. What Ayush did early was simply take the pace off the returns and induce in the Indonesian restlessness as he thrashed them into the net. An early Alwi jump-smash and net-kill were a sampling of what the young Indonesian could unleash. But Ayush was determined to use the net as a party-pooping trick. Alwi’s overhead deception is going to pose problems to everyone in the coming years, and the lifts the Indian sent up to gauge lengths often got him punished with his opponent ferocious in his attack. It was pretty evident that Ayush’ best bet was at the net from where his angled pushes and flicks could find Alwi out of position. Or trapped on the parallels. Alwi had defeated Ayush in the semifinals of the Junior World Championships and has transitioned to seniors seamlessly. He plays a simple game with speed and a steep smash which is formidable in how he can find numerous ways to hit straight to the back court. It gave him an 18-14 lead, but also provided Ayush the trigger to switch up his game. He cut down on lifts and pushed flat crosses to navigate the critical period from 14-18 down to taking a 19-18 lead. It wasn’t enough, however, to stall Alwi, who picked the opener 21-19. There wasn’t a single smash-winner from the Indian in this end phase. The second game ended even more tamely as Alwi was comfortably striking from the faster side, and didn’t need massive variations as he took the net out of the equation. He kept a steady stream of back court winners with Ayush extremely tentative on the side lift and never quite finding his range, trailing from start to finish against the 11th seed. Ayush, the disruptor, was evident on Day 1 when he took out Shi Yuqi. Alwi might well thank him for clearing the path. Ayush, the destructor, though, isn’t quite the finished product yet. His endurance still leaves a lot to be desired.