Thailand Masters: Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha bows out in semis, but makes nation proud

Assam shuttler Ashmita Chaliha’s impressive performance at the Thailand Masters badminton tournament ended on a sad note after she lost to World Number 17 Supanida Katethong in the women’s singles semifinals.

Chaliha, who is ranked 61, conceded a 21-13, 21-12 loss to the local star within 35 minutes into the game.
This ended India’s campaign at the event within just two games.

Chaliha had earlier beaten World Number 44 Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia and Chinese Taipei’s World Number 30 Pai Yu Po in two massive upsets to secure her spot in a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 tournament for the first time ever.

However, Ashmita could not continue with her dominance in the semi-final. She could score 5 straight points after trailing to Supanida 19-8 in the first set, but the Thailand shuttler could easily secure the first thereafter.

In the second set Ashmita was trailing by 10-7 at the break. But she was alive in the game until her opponent took six successive points to swing the fate in her favour and managed to win the second game as well.

Earlier, Ashmita defeated Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia in the Round of 32, 21-10, 21-16. After that she won against Chinese Taipei’s World Number 30 Pai Yu Po in the Round of 16 by 21-12, 15-21 and 21-17.
She booked her semi final berth by defeating World Number 44 Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia by 21-14, 19-21 and 21-13.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) congratulated Ashmita for her stupendous performance in the tournament.

In a post on X, the BAI said, “Ashmita ends her best run on #BWFWorldTour in semfinals.

Fantastic and memorable week, made us proud, onwards and upwards.”

What even adds more spark to the career of Ashmita Chaliha is the fact that she is the only third Indian women’s singles shuttler after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to reach the semifinal of a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Event outside India.