NEW DELHI: India’s Tanvi Sharma rode on her brilliant form to come up with a near-perfect 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.
The 16-year-old registered a clinical 15-11, 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.
Tanvi, the top seed, will now take on Thailand’s second seed Anyapat Phichitpreechasak, who fought back from a game down to beat compatriot Yataweemin Ketklieng 10-15, 15-11, 15-5 in the other semi-final.
Having become the first Indian female player to be assured of a junior Worlds medal in 17 years, Tanvi came out all guns blazing from the start. She went for winners early in the initial exchanges and wasn’t afraid to play late flicks and sharp cross-court pushes from the front court to keep her opponent guessing.
The ploy clicked as she opened up a 7-3 lead, and though Liu closed the gap at 8-7, Tanvi never looked under pressure.
She continued to raise the tempo of the rallies and never let Liu to settle down into any rhythm, wrapping up the opening game in 13 minutes with a trademark cross-court smash.
With the opening game in her pocket, Tanvi was even more comfortable going for her shots, opening up a 12-4 lead in no time. It was at this stage that she made her first real mistakes, tapping into the net. A flurry of errors thereafter allowed Liu to earn four quick points before Tanvi stopped that slide with another perfectly weighted down-the-line smash on the Chinese’s serve.
Tanvi, training at the National Centre of Excellence for almost a year now, continued to move her opponent around the court and even scored points with cross-court shots while countering her opponent’s smashes. She then sealed the spot in the final when Liu pushed a forehand shot wide.
“I was feeling very comfortable today and I am very happy with the way I played. It was only in the second game at 12-4 that I made a few mistakes but my coach told me to focus on playing my strokes slightly inside the lines and it worked,” said Tanvi.
In the boys’ singles semis, top seed Mohd Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia saved match three points in the second game before beating China’s Li Zhi Hang 14-16, 16-14, 15-12. In the final, Zaki will play Chinese third seed Liu Yang Ming Yu, who beat Indonesian second seed Richie Duta Richardo 15-7, 10-15, 15-13.
