Assam girl Ashmita Chaliha overcame stiff competition from her opponent to finish on top of the podium at the Yonex Sunrise All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Sixteenth seeded Ashmita scored a pulsating victory over third seeded Sai Uttejitha Rao to emerge winner in the women’s singles event. Sai, who came into the tournament at the back of a title win in Bangalore last week, started the match as clear favourite but could not overcome a spirited challenge from Ashmita.
Ashmita won the opening game 21-16, but conceded the second game 14-21. But she held on to her nerves and displayed great tenacity to win the deciding game 21-15 to go atop the podium.
“I would like to congratulate the winners and all the participants for a stupendous show. This was the last senior ranking tournament basis which we will select a few young players for the upcoming Asian Games,” president, Badminton Association of India Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
