TALENTED shuttler Tanvi Patri on Wednesday scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the badminton semi-finals at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar. The 15-year-old from Odisha defeated Thailand’s Kungkaew Kakanik 21-17, 21-13 to enter the last four. Tanvi, who trains at the Centre for Excellence in Bengaluru, will face Japan’s Yuzuno Watanabe in the semifinal. The two had met at the 2024 Pathum Thani Junior International Series in Thailand, where Tanvi suffered a 14-21, 10-21 defeat.

 

Only three Indian shuttlers, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, and Aditya Joshi had previously reached the badminton semifinals at the Youth Olympics. Prannoy won silver at the inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010, while Lakshya also finished runner-up at the 2018 Games in Buenos Aires. Aditya reached the boys’ singles semifinals in 2014 but returned without a medal. Tanvi had earlier won the girls’ singles U-17 title at the Badminton Asia U-17 and U15 Championships in Chengdu, China, in an allIndian final. She thus became the first Indian to win both the continental U-15 and U-17 titles.