Ashmita Chaliha’s inspired run at the Macau Open 2026 badminton tournament ended with the Indian badminton player losing her women’s singles semi-final clash on Saturday.
The result also ended India’s campaign at the BWF Super 300 tournament.
Ashmita Chaliha, 63rd in the badminton rankings, lost to world No. 61 Park Ga-eun of the Republic of Korea 21-17, 21-9 in 38 minutes at the Macao East Asian Games Dome to crash out.
The match was Ashmita’s only second semi-final appearance on the BWF World Tour and the first since the 2024 Thailand Masters.
She has made the semis in a couple of Super 100-rated tourneys but these are not considered part of the BWF World Tour despite offering ranking points.
Ashmita Chaliha began the match well and led by a point in the midway interval of the opening game.
The Indian shuttler then extended her advantage to 15-11 and seemed to be in control but Park Ga-eun turned the tables with six unanswered points and took a 17-15 lead.
Ashmita drew level at 17-all but the South Korean won another cluster of four points to take the opening game.
The second game saw the Korean shuttler dominate from start to finish. This was the first encounter between the two players.
Following a three-month injury layoff towards the beginning of the 2026 BWF World Tour, Ashmita had reached back-to-back quarter-finals at the China Masters and the Malaysia Masters coming into the Macau Open.
India’s challenge in men’s singles at the Macau Open 2026 ended on Thursday after Tharun Mannepalli and Rounak Chouhan, who made it to the main draw from the qualifiers, exited in the pre-quarterfinals. The doubles campaign also ended in the same stage.
Anmol Kharb lost in the quarter-finals of women’s singles.
Indian badminton players’ next assignment on the BWF World Tour is the US Open, which starts on June 23.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/macau-open-2026-badminton-semi-final-report
