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India's campaign at the Malaysia Masters 2026 tournament in Kuala Lumpur came to an end on Friday after shuttler Ashmita Chaliha lost to Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt in the women's singles quarterfinal, according to Olympics.com.
While Ashmita started strongly and claimed the opening game, the 71st-ranked shuttler eventually went down 21-23, 21-18, 21-11 to the world No. 23 Line Kjaersfeldt. The Indian shuttler dominated the early exchanges and built an 11-6 lead at the first-game interval. Although Kjaersfeldt fought back to level the scores at 17-17, Ashmita stayed composed and converted her third game point to take the opener. However, the momentum shifted in the second game. Ashmita once again had a solid start, moving 10-5 ahead, but the Danish player later levelled at 13-13 before winning four successive points to establish an 18-15 lead and eventually force a decider. The final game proved largely one-sided. After the score was tied at 4-4, Kjaersfeldt surged ahead with four straight points to make it 8-4. Though Ashmita reduced the deficit to 8-6, Kjaersfeldt responded with another five-point streak to extend her lead to 13-6 and comfortably seal the match. This was the second meeting between the two players, with Kjaersfeldt also defeating Ashmita in three games at the Thailand Masters 2023. Earlier, Ashmita stormed into the women's singles quarterfinal with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei on Thursday. Indian badminton players will next compete at the Singapore Open Super 750 tournament, which begins on Tuesday. (ANI)
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