Ashmita Chaliha is priming to launch her qualification bid in badminton women’s singles for the Los Angeles Olympics, and her steady string of results is both pushing up her rankings, and giving her confidence to take on the big names next year.Playing Chinese 4th best shuttler in rankings, Han Qian Xi, a 24-year-old, the Indian World No.36, secured a fine 21-18, 24-22 victory at the French Open at Tremblay-en-France, showing finishing finesse, as her left-handed free-stroking attack downed an opponent she had previously defeated to win the Korea Masters title.Ashmita’s southpaw game has always held the sting and speed to attack. The consistency was missing, though she’s remedied that diligently at Guwahati and will move to her career-best ranking next week as 4 Indians get into Top 32.Against the Chinese who was at a loss of ideas after Ashmita swamped her with deep attacks onto her backhand side, the Assamese showed relentlessness that has been missing — besides PV Sindhu at the elite Tour level. She always had a zipping smash, at times from a hop-jump. But Ashmita is sending down round-the-head, down-the-line zingers with devilish venom that is beginning to bother Top 30 shuttlers.But it wasn’t just the smash. Her attacking intent blazed from her backhand, which paired with a side stance is bringing her winners in a big bunch. She uses the backhand on defense, on the whipping back corner retrieve for a straight clear and for snappy drops and smashes, that left the Chinese perpetually short of reaching the shuttle.The true test of her temperament though came after she had pocketed the opening set 21-18, and had fallen back 7-14 in the second. But what Ashmita has is an elite attack with several kill options that come powered with her free-flowing, fearless shot-making that travels at speed.So, she worked her way back into the second set with an attacking flurry. Coach Park Tae Sang told The Indian Express, “We have worked hard on Ashmita’s strengths. Her biggest is her attacking game. As left-hander, she has really good power and can create sharp angles which make her a very dangerous attacking player.”Story continues below this adThe first Super 300 title took time coming, but it has injected confidence in her to adopt the elite mentality. That entails not waffling about in the second set. So she took 7-14 as a challenge and made it 19-19 with a breathtaking barrage on thleaden-footeded Chinese — zapped by the lefties angles.Still, the Chinese was offered a chance from a rare Ashmita error, to level the sets. That next point at 19-20 down, was played with all the maturity and menace she could summon as she worked the court using the full expanse of it to shut out the Chinese.The most prominent part of her backhand game however is how she is using it on lunges, picking shuttles inches off the floor and proceeding to win points. It’s not ideal, but it’s getting her winners two shots down the rally and frustrating opponents. The defensive rigour really helped her stay in rallies after which she transitioned into attacks with much glee and gusto.“Earlier Ashmita used to give away easy points through errors. But today even if she was 7-15 in the second game, she refused to give up. She stayed patient. Kept believing in her attacking game. And found her way back into the match. I believe that her fighting spirit was an important part behind her victory,” Park said.Story continues below this adThe win came with a roar, and a promise of a likely Round 2 with Akane Yamaguchi who will test her mettle properly on Thursday. But for the moment, Ashmita’s game had propelled her deeper. “At NCE, we work on her defense using multi-shuttle drills at least twice a week, which has made her much more solid and consistent in defense than before. We are trying to make her game more complete by strengthening her defense while maintaining her attacking strengths,” Park explained.The goals are set, and the intent is clear. “Breaking into Top 32 is very important to secure entries into Super 1000 and 750,” Park says before adding, “From December, bigger goal is to compete for place in the 2028 Olympic Games when qualification begins on May 1, 2027.”