Kuala Lumpur, May 21 (IANS) India’s Ashmita Chaliha continued her impressive run at the Malaysia Masters, storming into the women’s singles quarterfinals with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei at the Stadium Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Starting from the qualifiers, Ashmita looked in complete control against the World No. 55, dominating the opening game with a comfortable win. Although Jin Wei attempted a fightback in the second game, the Indian shuttler never allowed her opponent to settle, wrapping up the contest in straight games in just 27 minutes.
With the victory, Ashmita reaches the quarterfinals of a Super 500 event for the third time in her career. She will next take on eighth-seeded Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark, who advanced after defeating two Indians, Anmol Kharb and Malvika Bansod. The rest of the Indian contingent bowed out in their respective matches.
Malvika bowed out in the second round after a loss to former European Games champion Kjaersfeldt of Denmark on Thursday. Despite winning the opening game at the Stadium Axiata Arena, World No. 51 Malvika lost 16-21, 21-8, 21-15 to the World No. 23 and eighth seed Danish shuttler. This was Olympian Kjaersfeldt’s second win in three matches against Malvika.
Bansod’s compatriot Devika Sihag also exited the women’s singles in the second round after a 21-16, 21-13 defeat to former Olympic champion and top seed Chinese Chen Yufei.
Meanwhile, India’s men’s doubles campaign came to an end after MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan — the only Indian pair at the BWF Super 500 tournament — went down 21-14, 21-15 against Hu Keyuan and Lin Xiangyi of China.
In the mixed doubles, a duo of Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram and Radhika Sharma suffered a 12-21, 25-27 loss against the USA’s Presley Smith and Jennie Gai.
–IANS
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