Tanvi Patri registered a dominating win over Thailand’s Kungkaew Kakanik to reach the Under-15 girls singles final at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U15 junior championships in Chengdu, China, on Saturday.
Patri, seeded no. 1 in the girls U-15 category, was made to work hard in the opening game by sixth seed Kakanik but ultimately breezed through to a 21-19, 21-10 win in just 31 minutes.
She will now face second seed Nguyen Thi Thu Huygen of Vietnam, who got the better of China’s Liu Yu Tong 21-18, 17-21, 21-19 in the other semifinal.
Samiya Imad Farooqui had won the U-15 girls singles crown in 2017 and Tasnim Mir was victorious in the same category in 2019.
However, there was a heart-break for Gnana Dattu TT in the Under-17 boys singles event as he went down against Indonesia’s Radithya Bayu Wardhana in three games and will come home with a bronze medal.
Gnana Dattu started aggressively against Radithya and looked on course to book a final spot when he easily grabbed the opening game. But the Indian lost momentum and also needed a medical time out as he went down 9-21, 21-13, 21-13.
In the previous edition of the championships, India had won the gold medal in the boys U-15 singles category and a silver in U-17 girls singles.
Results:
U-15 Girls singles: 1-Tanvi Patri (Ind) bt Kungkaew Kakanik (Tha) 21-19, 21-10
U-17 Boys singles: 2-Gnana Dattu TT lost to Radithya Bayu Wardhana (Ina) 9-21, 21-13, 21-13