Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha caused an upset at the India Open on Tuesday defeating fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya as top seed PV Sindhu sailed into the women's singles second round of the tournament.
The young shuttler who entered the competition unseeded, needed just 31 minutes to get the better of the Russian and world number 28, Kosetskaya. Chaliha stunned her opponent 24-22 21-16 to move forward in the tournament.
Meanwhile, veteran PV Sindhu defeated compatriot Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli 21-5 21-16. On the other hand, the tournament ended for Chirag Sen who lost 8-21 7-21 to Soong Joo Ven of Malaysia in the men's singles opening round.
Chaliha began strongly and opened up an 11-5 lead. However, after the break, she lost ground as Kosetsyaka leveled the score at 14-14, and then fought back from 16-19 to earn her first game point.
But the Guwahati-based shuttler was able to regain her touch in time, forcing her opponent to make an error which she pounced before clinching the opener with a smash.
The second game was also somewhat similar as Chaliha opened another massive lead of 11-4 but her Russian counterpart turned things around to make it 19-16. However, the young Indian kept her cool to finish off the match in 31 minutes.
Addressing a press conference after the match, Chaliha said, "I haven't played a lot of matches in the last few years. So, I was nervous and that affected me midway in the opening game. But once I won the first game, I was more confident and so I was relaxed in the second game".
She added, "It is a big event and I was looking forward to playing the Russian but I played safe and it helped to pull out the match. This was one of my biggest wins. I played her before in I had lost to her in straight games so it was my biggest win".
Chaliha is set to face France's Yaelle Hoyaux next, who defeated India's Riya Mookerjee 14-21 13-21.
