Odisha teenage sensation Tanvi Patri made the State and country proud by winning the womens U-15 gold medal in the Asian Junior (U15 & U17) Badminton Championships 2024 at the Chengdu University in Chengdu, China today. Top seed Tanvi clinched the title, defeating second seed-seeded Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen of Vietnam in the final 22-20, 21-11.

The 13-year-old Odisha girl became the third Indian shuttler to win the U-15 womens singles title in the Asian Championship. She achieved the glorious feat without dropping a game in the championship. Tanvi was the only Indian among 24 players to reach the final in any of the 10 events in Chengdu.

The gold bagged by Tanvi was the second medal for India at this tournament after the bronze medal of Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila in the U-17 mens singles. Dattu, the second seed in his category, fell short (21-9, 13-21, 13-21) in his semifinal match against Indonesian shuttler Radithya Bayu Wardhana, despite a strong start.

A two-time National Sub-junior (U-13) girls singles champion, Tanvi earlier missed the opportunity to represent the country at the Asian Junior (U19) Championship held last month in Yogyakarta, Indonesia as her entry sent by Badminton Association of India was not accepted for the reason that she was under-age (below 14).

Tanvi hails from Markona in Balasore district and trains at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore, under eminent coach U Vimal Kumar. Daughter of IT professionals Rabi Narayan Patri and Sailabala Panda, Tanvi started playing badminton in China, where her father worked for an IT company.

Under the tutelage of top Chinese coach Jiang Yong Yi, she won nine titles in China between 2017 and 2020 before her family returned to India due to Covid-19 pandemic. Tanvi joined Prakash Padukone Academy in 2022 and became the first shuttler from Odisha to win the Sub-junior National girls singles title the same year in Lucknow.

She retained her National title last year in Balangir, Odisha. Though residing in Bangalore, Tanvi visits her home state regularly to play domestic tournaments conducted by Odisha State Badminton Association.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS OF TANVI AT THE ASIAN U-15 CHAMPIONSHIP:
Round of 32: beat Kuan Yi Lin (Chinese Taipei) 21-16, 21-15.
Round of 16: beat Sarisa Janpeng (Thailand) 21-9, 21-18.
Quarterfinal: beat Cheng Shu Jie *7 (China) 21-10, 21-12.
Semifinal: beat Kungkaew Kakanik *6 (Thailand) 21-19, 21-10.
Final: beat Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen *2 (Vietnam) 22-20, 21-11.
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PHOTO: Rising star shuttler Tanvi Patri poses with her U-15 womens singles trophy and gold medal at the Asian Junior Badminton Championship in Chengdu, China on 25 August 2024.