PBL 2020: NE Warriors' Ashmita Chaliha shines for India, looks forward to debut

Assam’s wonderkid Ashmita Chaliha recently became the toast of the entire nation after she was crowned the women’s singles champion at the ongoing South Asian Games in Nepal. While that was one of the biggest achievements of her fledgling career, the 20-year-old is already determined to make a mark at the upcoming fifth season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), scheduled to begin on January 20, where she will make her debut for the North Eastern Warriors.

Getting to don the jersey of the north-eastern franchise in her very first season for the pan-Indian league will be something special for the Guwahati rising star and she is looking forward to being a part of them.

“I feel extremely happy that I got into the North Eastern Warrior’s team,” said Chaliha. “Being an Assam girl and of course as a debutante, I am really excited and feeling proud to be representing my home team,” added the youngster.

That Chaliha is one to watch out for has long been known. Last year she gave a sheer display of her immense talent when she conquered the Dubai International Challenge and the Tata Open International Challenge. The ever-hungry and rapidly-improving girl wants to use the PBL platform to pick up skills from her world class teammates among whom are former top 10 shuttler, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, former Olympic gold medallist Lee Yong Dae, and 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li.

“I’m really looking forward to playing with some of the best players in the world and take as much experience as I can from the matches I would get to play. Well, as a team, I’m sure we are going to do well as we have some really good international players in our team like Tanongsak, Lee Yong Dae, Michelle Li and many other star players,” said Chaliha.

For the Assam girl, her 2019 season did not live up to her expectations as she was on the sidelines due to injury. But Chaliha has been steadily getting a few confidence-boosting wins under her belt on her comeback and the double gold she won at the South Asian Games are just the cherry on the cake.

“This year, 2019 has been more of downs than ups for me. I was recovering from an injury so I couldn’t perform well in my tournaments. But of late, gradually I’ve gained my momentum leading to my win in Jodhpur All India Rankings, which is also my first title of the year. Also, my team (India) and I recently won a couple of gold medals in the South Asian Games in Nepal,” she explained.

“So, with this, I’ve learnt that patience & persistence are the key that make unbeatable combination for success. I believe that the only thing that matters apart from hard work is to have faith and believe in oneself,” added Chaliha.

A first-round win at the Super 300 Syed Modi International tournament propelled the former World No. 87 back into the top 100 and the confident girl has now set her sights on breaking into the top 50.

“It feels great to break back and be in the top 100 of the BWF rankings. But I know this is not it, I really have to keep working hard as I aim to break into the top 50 of the world rankings,” signed off Chaliha.