Indian Teenager Tanvi Patri Scripts History, Advances to Women's Singles Final at Youth Olympic Games

New Delhi: India’s teenage badminton star Tanvi Patri has scripted history as she advanced to the women’s singles final at the Youth Olympic Games. The Odisha-born player advanced to the summit clash after beating Japan’s second seed Yuzuno Watanabe in a thrilling three-game semifinal encounter on Wednesday. By this feat, Tanvi has also earned India its first-ever medal in women’s singles badminton at the Youth Olympics. In a closely fought 54-minute battle, Tanvi beat Watanabe 21-14, 11-21, 21-19. The Indian teen mounted an initial assault, winning the first game 21-14. Nonetheless, the Japanese shuttler was resilient in the second game and emerged victorious with 21-11 score line to equalise the proceedings. It was anybody’s game when the final game was played, but Tanvi was level headed in the crucial third game to win with 21-19. Tanvi’s feat is yet another major achievement for Indian badminton on the international stage at the Youth Olympic Games. Prior to her, Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Aditya Joshi had also made the semifinals of the event. Prannoy and Lakshya had bagged silver medals in 2010 and 2018 respectively. The young Indian will now compete for the historic gold medal against China’s Yi Xin Zhang, the reigning World Junior Championships champion. Tanvi will be keen to overcome her Chinese opponent and add another major achievement to her growing badminton career.