All-Indian Semifinal Confirmed as Rakshitha, Ashmita Storm into Korea Masters Last Four

Asan City: India is assured of a place in the women's singles final at the Korea Masters 2026 after Rakshitha Ramraj and Ashmita Chaliha booked semifinal berths with impressive quarterfinal victories on Friday.

Rakshitha ended the impressive run of fellow Indian Tanvi Sharma in a thrilling three-game contest at the Asan Yi Sun-sin Gymnasium. After dropping the opening game, Rakshitha fought back to defeat Tanvi 18-21, 21-19, 21-19, extending her unbeaten head-to-head record against her compatriot to 4-0.

Tanvi, who had looked poised for another semifinal appearance after taking the first game, was unable to hold off Rakshitha's spirited comeback as the latter sealed the decider in a closely fought finish.

Rakshitha will now face another Indian, Ashmita Chaliha, in an all-Indian semifinal. Ashmita produced one of the biggest upsets of the tournament by defeating top seed Hina Akechi of Japan 20-22, 21-15, 21-19 after recovering from the loss of the opening game.

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India's campaign in the women's and mixed doubles, however, came to an end. Sonali Singh and Ritika Thaker were beaten 21-15, 21-9 by Japan's seventh-seeded pair of Sumire Nakade and Miyu Takahashi in the women's doubles quarterfinals.

In mixed doubles, sixth seeds Ishaan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra bowed out after a 21-16, 16-21, 21-13 defeat to South Korea's Shin Tae-yang and Kim Yu Jung.

Later on Friday, India's men's doubles pair of Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Krishna Prasad Garaga will battle Malaysia's Man Wei Chong and Soh Wooi Yik for a place in the semifinals. The Indian duo had earlier stunned Thailand's fourth-seeded pair, Worrapol Thongsa-nga and Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn, in the opening round.

Earlier in the tournament, Anmol Kharb exited in the pre-quarterfinals after a hard-fought 21-23, 21-15, 18-21 defeat to Vietnam's Olympian Vu Thi Trang.

India also suffered first-round exits in other doubles events, with Arjun Reddy Pochana and Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu losing to South Korea's second-seeded pair Choi Sol Gyu and Goh V Shem, while Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were beaten by Japan's Ririna Hiramoto and Kokona Ishikawa.

With inputs from IANS