Thailand Masters 2024: Ashmita Chaliha Enters Semi-Final; Jolly-Gopichand, Manjunath Crash Out

Ashmita Chaliha kept India's challenge in Thailand Masters 2024 alive after she reached the semi-finals of the badminton tournament on Friday (February 2) at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 24-year-old India registered a 21-14, 18-21, 21-13 win over Indonesia's Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo in the women's singles quarterfinal match that lasted just under an hour, 57 minutes to be precise, on Court 2.

The youngster eased to take the first game 21-14, but the Indonesian fought back from going down, to force the decider, in which the Indian raced to a 11-4 lead before taking the game and the match.

Chaliha, who has reached her first semi-final on BWF World Tour, will next face either seventh seed Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei or fourth seed Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the last four match on Saturday (February 3).

Earlier on Friday (February), a men's singles contestant and a women's doubles team in contention for a semifinal spot failed to win their respective quarter-final matches and bowed out of the BWF Super 300 tournament.

Mithun Manjunath, who was the lone Indian that reached the men's singles quarters, lost in straight games 19-21, 15-21 to Dutch Mark Caljouw in the men's singles last 8 match that lasted 43 minutes on Court 2.

In women's doubles, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand pair went down fighting to fourth seeds Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi of Indonesia in the last 8 match by a scoreline of 12-21, 21-17, 21-23 in an hour and 7 minutes on court 1.

Earlier on Thursday (February 1), Kidambi Srikanth, Sankar Subramanian, Malvika Bansod and the doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa were among the Indian shuttlers to make a second round exit in the Thailand Masters 2024.

In men's singles, Subramanian lost in a lopsided contest against Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei by a scoreline of 9-21, 11-21, while former world number 1 Srikanth suffered a loss to compatriot Manjunath by a scoreline of 9-21, 21-13, 17-21.

In women's doubles, Crasto-Ponnappa pair, who were on a good run, went down to compatriots Jolly-Gopichand pairing by a scoreline of 15-21, 22-24.