CHENNAI: Ashmita Chaliha fell to her knees and was visibly emotional after securing a hard-fought win over Han Qian Xi the final of the Korea Masters on Sunday. It was a significant victory as it marked her first-ever Super 300 crown on the BWF World Tour.
It was more meaningful for Ashmita as she had suffered a career-threatening injury that had kept her out of the sport for an extended period of time. For a young player, match-experiences at the elite level is like oxygen. It's something that offer them the necessary platform to build and evolve. But that had been taken away from her for months in 2024 after she had to undergo an emergency surgery for severe medial meniscus tear in her right knee. With the support of her family, especially her mother, she never gave up.
The southpaw from Guwahati gradually started regaining her strength, getting some solid wins and her persistence finally paid off on Sunday. As had been the case in the last couple of days, she did it the hard way. She won 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 53 minutes. "I feel really great and unbelievable. But then I am trying to digest it. Now, I am hungry for more," Ashmita told reporters after the summit match.
After taking a handy lead, Ashmita was guilty of making errors in Game 1 and that proved to be costly as the Chinese shuttler, after reeling off five consecutive points, got back in the contest before going on to take the advantage.
The second game was close at the start but Ashmita won four consecutive points, not once but twice, at crucial periods to take the game away from her opponent.
The decider, as was expected, was also neck-and-neck until the half-way stage before Ashmita created a gap between her and her opponent with a seven-point run. Han tried to fight back but Ashmita, with some good returns, kept her cool to get over the line.
"In the first game, it was a little bit tricky because of the drift condition. So I was not able to manage it. But in the second, the other side was more comfortable and there was less drift. So I was able to control it. And in the third, after 11 points, I changed again. So I was on the good side. So I'm glad that I could pull off," Ashmita reflected.
It's also important hit for Indian badminton. Just last week Tanvi Sharma had captured her maiden Super 300 title and now this. These titles could provide them the spark to keeping pushing for more in the days to come.