Tanvi a step from emulating Saina as junior world champ

India’s Tanvi Sharma rode on her brilliant form to come up with a nearperfect performance against China’s Liu Si Ya to enter the girls’ singles final of the BWF World Junior Championships at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati on Saturday.

- HT Correspondent

The 16-year-old registered a clinical 15-1, 15-9 win in just over half-an-hour to overcome the Asian Junior Championships silver medallist. Tanvi became only the fifth Indian player, and the third among women, to reach the final of the junior Worlds.

Aparna Popat was the first to reach the summit clash in 1996 when she finished runner-up.

Former world No.1 Saina Nehwal made the final a decade later, again losing in the final. However, Saina turned things around two years later (2008) in Pune — the last time India hosted the annual showpiece — when she became the first, and till date the only, Indian to win gold.

Siril Verma reached the boys’ singles final in 2015 when he ended with a silver. Sankar Muthusamy reached the summit clash in 2022, the Chennai shuttler also losing in the title clash.