India’s rising badminton star, Anmol Kharb, made headlines by securing her first-ever senior international title at the Belgian International 2024 in Leuven on Saturday. The 17-year-old, ranked 222nd in the world, displayed tremendous skill and determination to defeat Denmark’s world No. 80 Amalie Schulz in a thrilling women’s singles final.
Anmol triumphed 24-22, 12-21, 21-10 in a hard-fought match that lasted 59 minutes, marking a major milestone in her burgeoning career.
The road to the title was anything but easy for the young Indian, who entered the tournament unseeded and had to make her way through the qualifiers. Anmol’s determination shone as she won all her matches leading to the semi-finals in straight games, despite facing higher-ranked opponents.
In the semi-finals, Anmol faced her toughest challenge yet, battling past Bulgaria’s world No. 68 Kaloyana Nalbantova. In a grueling 76-minute contest, Anmol eventually emerged victorious with a scoreline of 21-13, 24-26, 21-19. The victory set the stage for her showdown against Schulz in the final, where she overcame a second-game setback to dominate the decider and clinch her maiden senior international title.
Anmol’s win in Belgium comes on the back of a string of impressive performances over the past year. Earlier in 2024, she was instrumental in leading the Indian women’s team to a historic gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia.
Her victories over top players like Japan’s world No. 29 Natsuki Nidaira and Thailand’s world No. 45 Pornpicha Choeikeewong were key to India’s triumph. These wins underscored her potential as a future star of Indian badminton.
Her rapid rise began even earlier, when at just 16, Anmol became the women’s singles national champion in India. This national victory solidified her status as one of the country’s brightest prospects and set the stage for her international success.
Despite being ranked 222nd in the world, Anmol’s journey at the Belgian International proved that rankings don’t always reflect a player’s capabilities. As an unseeded qualifier, she defied expectations by overcoming more experienced and higher-ranked opponents throughout the tournament. Her tactical intelligence was evident in both her semi-final and final performances, where she fought through tough situations to emerge victorious.
In the final against Amalie Schulz, Anmol won a nail-biting first game 24-22 but struggled in the second, losing 12-21 as Schulz leveled the match. However, Anmol found her rhythm in the deciding set, overpowering the Danish player 21-10 to secure the title. Her ability to bounce back after a challenging second game demonstrated her mental toughness and ability to handle pressure on the international stage.
While Anmol stole the spotlight with her victory, other Indian players also made a mark at the Belgian International. In the men’s singles event, Darshan Pujari reached the quarter-finals, while the men’s doubles duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar made it to the semi-finals before their run came to an end. However, Indian representation in women’s doubles and mixed doubles fell short, with no women’s doubles pairs advancing past the first round and no Indian mixed doubles teams participating in the event.
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