The phrase "a stunning setback for" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant or surprising failure or obstacle faced by someone or something, often in a context of competition or progress.
Example: "The team's unexpected loss in the finals was a stunning setback for their championship hopes."
Alternatives: "a major blow to" or "a significant defeat for".
With 57 going to the nine-month-old Movement for Democratic Change, it was a stunning setback for Mr. Mugabe.
It was a stunning setback for the Reds, who sent two more players for M.R.I. exams and watched closer Danny Graves (2-2) getwowo strikes on Paquette before giving up another game-turning homer.
But Emanuel's desperation campaign signalled a stunning setback for a political celebrity who has had to redirect nearly all his campaign energy, including approximately $15m in attack ads and direct mail literature, against Garcia.
The meticulously planned operation, which followed the successful infiltration of the FARC by military intelligence agents, represented a stunning setback for the rebels, who lost their highest-profile captives in Betancourt and three American defense contractors whom they had held since 2003.
The decision is "a stunning setback for the government, there's no other way of looking at it," said Matthew D. Orwig, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal here who was, until recently, United States attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
The verdict was a stunning setback for prosecutors, who had argued that the defendant, Robert Ellis, was one of two men who fired their weapons at Officer Timoshenko and his partner, Officer Herman Yan, during a traffic stop in the early-morning hours of July 9 , 2007
A stunning setback, one which many see as a fatal blow to any hopes of contending for a place in Brazil 2014.
Representative Marcia Fudge, a Cleveland Democrat, called the ruling last year "a stunning setback".
Kuwaiti liberals, hopeful that the downfall of Saddam Hussein would strengthen their efforts at modernization, suffered a stunning setback in weekend Parliamentary elections, with traditionalists winning a sweeping victory.
In August 2009, the judge ruled Bout could not be extradited in a stunning setback to the US embassy and its "Bout team".
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the online database BishopAccountability.org, called Francis' attack on the Chilean sex abuse survivors a "stunning setback". .
