Indian prodigy Anmol Kharb wins her first international badminton singles title in Belgium

India's emerging talent Anmol Kharb secured her maiden international title at the senior level by winning the Belgian International 2024 badminton women’s singles event in Leuven on Saturday.

The 17-year-old Indian badminton player, 222nd in the BWF rankings, defeated Denmark's world No. 80 Amalie Schulz 24-22, 12-21, 21-10 in a hard-fought final that lasted 59 minutes.

In the semi-finals, Anmol got the better of 68th-ranked Kaloyana Nalbantova of Bulgaria 21-13, 24-26, 21-19 in 76 minutes.

Anmol, who made it to the main draw from the qualifiers and was unseeded, had won all her matches en route to the semi-finals in straight games. All of her main-round opponents ranked higher than her.

In the men’s singles, Darshan Pujari reached the quarter-finals while the Indian men’s doubles duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar saw their run end in the semi-finals. No Indian women’s doubles pair made it past the first round. India had no representation in mixed doubles.

Earlier this year, Anmol proved to be the driving force behind the Indian women’s team’s historic gold medal at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia.

She had defeated Japan’s then-world No. 29 Natsuki Nidaira, a former junior world championships bronze medal winner, in straight games and then-world No. 45 Pornpicha Choeikeewong of Thailand.

Last year, Anmol became the women’s singles national badminton champion at the age of 16.