Meet Ashmita Chaliha: Beating injury blues to win Korea Masters

The name Ashmita Chaliha may not ring as many bells as some of the younger players in India’s badminton ecosystem, but that is because a career-threatening knee injury had almost derailed her journey two years ago. The 26-year-old from Guwahati, however, showed her class to rally past Chinese fourth seed Han Qianxi and win the Korea Masters for her maiden BWF Tour title.

Her 14-21, 21-14, 21-14 victory marks back-to-back BWF World Tour finals victories for Indians, with Tanvi Sharma having won the Taipei Open last Sunday. “I feel really great and unbelievable, but then I am trying to digest it. Now, I am hungry for more,” Ashmita said.

“Before the injury, Ashmita was already a good player and a very good talent. She has a good smash and nice movement, but unfortunately, at the wrong time, she had to take a break because of the injury,” Ashmita’s coach Park Tae-Sang told PTI.

“When she joined me, I thought: Oh, she is a good player. But tactically and strategically, and also a little bit mentally, she had some problems. Yesterday, we also did a video analysis of her Chinese opponent. I told Ashmita: Your biggest problem is your own mistakes. You are making simple mistakes. But if you can reduce those simple mistakes by 100 per cent, I promise you, you can win the title today,” said Park, who trains Ashmita at Guwahati’s National Centre of Excellence.

A two-time South Asian Games champion, Ashmita was unstoppable during the week, beating top seed Akechi Hina on her way to the title.

Guwahati, incidentally, could have emerged as a hub of Indian badminton’s revival in the mid-2000s had Krishna Dekaraja shown the same grit and resilience as her more famous peer Saina Nehwal, with both training under coach Pullela Gopichand. Tall and lanky Olympian Dipankar Bhattacharya was also a rising star on the men’s circuit before his career fizzled out.

Like her better-known predecessors, Ashmita could have disappeared from the scene after injury troubles struck. Two years ago, she tore a knee ligament in Korea and returned on crutches. The southpaw, whose game was studded with gems such as round-the-head strokes and deception, could have fizzled out too, much as Krishna’s career tapered off.

However, Ashmita persisted. Her reflex defence, quick-swinging arms that summon returns at a fast-forward clip and ability to grit it out have resurrected her career. She is now poised to break into the world’s top 40 in the women’s rankings for the first time and build from there.