Ashmita Chaliha made it to the women’s singles main draw at the Thailand Masters 2026 badminton tournament after coming through two hard-fought qualifying matches in Patumwan on Tuesday.
In the opening qualifying round, the 26-year-old Chaliha was pushed hard by higher-ranked Hung Yi Ting of Chinese Taipei, but the Indian clinched the contest 15-21, 21-12, 21-12.
The first game was evenly poised at 13-all before world No. 65 Hung Yi Ting pulled away late to take the opener.
Chaliha, 87th in the women’s singles badminton rankings, turned the momentum in the second game. She edged ahead at the interval after scores were tied at 9-9 and eventually forced a decider.
The third game saw the Indian raise her intensity, breaking away from 3-3 with a 10-point surge to open up a commanding lead and close out the contest.
Chaliha carried that confidence into the final qualifying round against the Republic of Korea’s world No. 97 Kim Jooeun, winning the contest 21-11, 10-21, 21-16.
The Indian shuttler dominated the opening game before Kim struck back to level the match. The decider was locked at 15-all but Chaliha held her nerve in the closing stages, pulling clear with a four-point burst to seal her spot in the main draw.
Chaliha emerged as the lone Indian player to progress from the qualifying rounds at the Super 300 badminton event.
Indian campaign in doubles categories ends
Elsewhere, India’s campaign in men’s and women’s doubles categories ended in the first rounds.
Sai Pratheek K and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy, India’s only challenge in the men’s doubles, were edged out by Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia, losing 22-20, 22-20 in a closely contested opening-round match.
The women’s doubles challenge also came to an end, with Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda going down 21-12, 21-5 to Bao Li Jing and Li Yi Jing of the People’s Republic of China.
Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam were earlier beaten by Indonesia’s Febriana Kusuma and Meilysa Puspitasari 21-14, 21-12. The women’s doubles qualifying round saw Sania Sikkandar and Rashmi Ganesh bow out as well.
In the men’s singles qualifiers, Sathish Kumar and Saneeth Dayanand exited in the preliminary stages, while Mohit Jaglan and Lakshita Jaglan were knocked out in the mixed doubles qualifiers. Shreya Lele could not make it to the main draw of women’s singles.
Women’s singles players Malvika Bansod, Anmol Kharb and men’s singles shuttlers Kiran George and Priyanshu Rajawat will begin their campaigns on Wednesday.
(Source: Olympics.com)
