Patumwan, Jan 28 (.) India’s Ashmita Chaliha booked her place in the women’s singles main draw at the Thailand Masters 2026 badminton tournament after battling through two tough qualifying matches in Pattaya on Tuesday.
According to Olympics.com, the 26-year-old began her campaign with a gritty three-game win over higher-ranked Hung Yi Ting of Chinese Taipei, prevailing 15-21, 21-12, 21-12. After an evenly contested opening game slipped away from her late, Chaliha, ranked 87th in the world, responded strongly by seizing control in the second and third games to turn the match around.
She carried that momentum into the final qualifying round, overcoming the Republic of Korea’s Kim Jooeun 21-11, 10-21, 21-16. Chaliha dominated the opening game before Kim forced a decider. With the final game locked at 15-all, the Indian shuttler produced a decisive late surge to seal qualification.
Chaliha was the only Indian player to progress from the qualifying rounds at the Super 300 event.
India’s challenge ended early in the doubles categories. In men’s doubles, Sai Pratheek K and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy were narrowly beaten 22-20, 22-20 by Malaysia’s Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong.
The women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda suffered a straight-games loss to China’s Bao Li Jing and Li Yi Jing, while Ashwini Bhat K. and Shikha Gautam were defeated by Indonesia’s Febriana Kusuma and Meilysa Puspitasari.
Sania Sikkandar and Rashmi Ganesh also exited in the qualifying rounds.
In singles qualifiers, Sathish Kumar and Saneeth Dayanand bowed out in men’s singles, while Shreya Lele failed to reach the women’s singles main draw. Mohit Jaglan and Lakshita Jaglan were eliminated in mixed doubles qualifying.
India’s main-draw campaign will continue on Wednesday, with Malvika Bansod, Anmol Kharb, Kiran George, and Priyanshu Rajawat set to begin their matches.
. VAN .