Now Reading: Ashmita Chaliha returns from knee surgery to win Korea Masters
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Ashmita Chaliha returns from knee surgery to win Korea Masters
Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Korea Masters on Sunday, beating China's fourth-seeded Han Qian Xi 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 53 minutes. The Assam-born player,…
The Story in Brief
Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Korea Masters on Sunday, beating China's fourth-seeded Han Qian Xi 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 53 minutes. The Assam-born player, listed as 23 by one source and 26 by another, became the first Indian to win the Korea Masters and will break into the world's top 40 for the first time.
The victory completes a comeback from a career-threatening knee injury sustained at the same event two years ago, which required surgery and eight months off court. Chaliha trains under Park Tae-Sang at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati. She is the fifth Indian women's singles player to win a World Tour title and the third in 2026 after Devika Sihag, PV Sindhu and Tanvi Sharma.
The Indian Opinion
Indian badminton fans are right to celebrate Ashmita Chaliha's Korea Masters title, but the breathless talk of a 'breakthrough' ignores one awkward fact: at 23 or 26, she is older than PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal were when they won World Tour titles. The narrative of an 'heir apparent' has been pushed for years, and one Super 300 win against a fourth seed does not make a top-10 player. Watch how she performs against seeded opponents in back-to-back tournaments in coming months.
Sources (2): timesnownews.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
