Ashmita Chaliha clinched her maiden BWF World Tour title after registering a comeback win over China’s Han Qian Xi in the women’s singles final at the BWF Korea Masters
ASAN — Ashmita Chaliha clinched her maiden BWF World Tour title after registering a comeback win over China’s Han Qian Xi in the women’s singles final at the BWF Korea Masters on Sunday.
After dropping the first game, Ashmita bounced back in style to stun the fourth-seeded Chinese 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 53 minutes. After letting a 9–5 lead slip in the first game, she controlled the next two games with better precision to seal the title.
World No. 50 Indian, whose previous best this year was the semifinals of the Macau Open in June where she lost to lost to runner-up Park Ga Eun of South Korea, had made her first BWF World Tour final after beating compatriot Rakshita Sree Santhosh Ramraj.
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The 26-year-old from Guwahati has had an impressive road to the final. She first beat qualifier Ririna Hiramoto, then Kim Min Ji, both in straight games, before edging top seed Hina Akechi 20-22 21-15 21-19 in the quarterfinals.
Ashmita become the third Indian after Devika Sihag and Tanvi Sharma to claim a Super 300 this year. Overall, a win in the Korea Masters final makes her the fourth Indian woman to claim a singles BWF title this year after Tanvi in the Taipei Open, PV Sindhu at the Japan Open and Devika Sihag at the Thailand Masters.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the other Indians to have won a BWF title this year, having clinched the men’s doubles crown at the Singapore Badminton Open in May.
With the win, Ashmita will enter the top 40 for the first time in her life. She has had a strong run in the BWF Tour after coming back from a three-month injury layoff in May. She made the quarterfinal at the China Masters and Malaysia Masters in her first two tournaments after the forced break.