TEEN Indian sensation Tanvi Sharma clinched her maiden BadmintonWorld Federation BWF World Tour title after defeating Vietnam’s sixth seed Thuy Linh Nguyen in straight games in the women’s singles final of the Taipei Open Super 300 badminton tournament. The 17-year-old from Punjab, who had finished runner-up at last year’s US Open Super 300, needed just 36 minutes to outclass world No. 21 Nguyen 21-16 21-16 in the summit clash. “I’m really very happy to win this title here,” said Tanvi, who became the youngest champion in Taipei Open history at just 17 years and 222 days old, surpassing the legendary Tai Tzu Ying.

 

“I didn’t expect to win a title, but yeah, I just thought I’ll give my best over here. So I was going step by step, match by match. So yeah, every match I played really well here.” Coached by PV Sindhu’s former mentor Park Tae-sang, Tanvi also became the first Indian to win the women’s singles title at the Taipei Open since Saina Nehwal, who had lifted the trophy in 2008. “I was quite nervous, but I just thought I will play my 100 percent, what I have in my game, I will play that,” saidTanvi, who dropped only one game all week. “It was pretty hard for me as well, playing five matches. But yeah, I just needed to be consistent. I have to work harder for playing Super 500 and 750s. So I’ll be keep working hard.” Tanvi had defeated Nguyen en route to the final at US Open. The Indian made a flying start, repeatedly catching Nguyen at the front court with deft drops played with the same action as a smash to open up a 4-1 lead.