Badminton prodigy Ashmita Chaliha of Assam sailed into the last four stage of the 83rd Senior National Badminton Championship on Thursday.
Ashmita seeded fourth at this tournament beat Aakarshi Kashyap 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 in quarterfinal and entered the semifinals in women’s singles. Chaliha showed great rearguard action to win over Aakarshi Kashyap in the quarters.
Earlier, she defeated Vaidehi Choudhari 21-13, 15-21, 21-12 in a gruelling three setter pre-quarterfinal contest.
The 19-year-old left-hander, who claimed her first two senior international titles at the Dubai International Challenge and Tata Open International Challenge last year, was egged on by a vociferous crowd at the Assam Badminton Academy courts.
She made the most of that support when it looked like the youngster was running out of steam in the third game.
In between, Chaliha gave a glimpse in the array of strokes she possess as she won numerous points on flicks from the net and down the line smashes to set up a semi-final clash against Sindhu.