Asan City witnessed a thrilling day of badminton on Friday at the Korea Masters 2026, as India's Rakshitha Ramraj navigated a challenging quarterfinal clash against compatriot Tanvi Sharma to book her place in the women's singles semifinals. Ramraj emerged victorious after a hard-fought three-game encounter, winning 21-18, 19-21, 19-21 at the Asan Yi Sun-sin Gymnasium.
The match saw Sharma initially take the lead, hinting at another potential semifinal appearance following her impressive run in the tournament. However, Rakshitha Ramraj, maintaining her dominant head-to-head record against Sharma (now 4-0), mounted a strong comeback, clinching the second game and then a tight decider to advance.
Her semifinal opponent will be none other than fellow Indian and Assam's own Ashmita Chaliha, setting up an exciting all-Indian clash. Chaliha earned her spot in spectacular fashion, stunning top seed Hina Akechi in a grueling match that ended 20-22, 21-15, 21-19. Chaliha's victory underscores a strong performance from the Indian contingent in the women's singles category.
However, India's campaign concluded in the women's and mixed doubles events. The women's doubles pair of Sonali Singh and Ritika Thaker faced a tough challenge, falling 21-15, 21-9 to Japan's seventh-seeded duo, Sumire Nakade and Miyu Takahashi. In the mixed doubles, sixth seeds Ishaan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra were defeated by South Korea's Shin Tae-yang and Kim Yu Jung in a three-game battle, 21-16, 16-21, 21-13.
Later in the day, attention will turn to the men's doubles, where Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Krishna Prasad Garaga are scheduled to compete against Malaysia's Man Wei Chong and Soh Wooi Yik for a place in their respective semifinals, hoping to extend India's challenge further in the tournament.
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