SportsBadminton
Tanvi Patri, 15, wins India's first Youth Olympics medal in women's badminton
The teenager took silver in Dakar after losing an 82-minute women's singles final to China's world junior champion Zhang Yi Xin, 26-24 in the deciding game.
Key points
- Tanvi Patri won silver in women's singles at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.
- She lost the final to China's Zhang Yi Xin 21-15, 13-21, 24-26 in 82 minutes.
- She is the first Indian woman to win a Youth Olympics badminton medal.
Fifteen-year-old Tanvi Patri won silver in women’s singles at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar on Thursday, November 5, 2026, becoming the first Indian woman to win a badminton medal at the Games. She lost a gripping final to China’s Zhang Yi Xin, the reigning world junior champion, 21-15, 13-21, 24-26 in one hour and 22 minutes.
Tanvi started slowly but took the opening game in 25 minutes, turning a 3-5 deficit into a 10-5 lead with a run of seven straight points. She was 4-0 up early in the second game too, but a drift in the air began to upset her clears, and Zhang took charge after the interval to force a decider.
The third game looked over when Zhang led 19-10 with a stream of cross-court drops. Tanvi clawed back to 19-15, then an error on a cross-court smash handed Zhang five match points. The Indian saved all five and earned three chances of her own to win gold, but Zhang held her nerve to close it out at 26-24.
Only two Indians had won an individual badminton medal at the Youth Olympics before her, both men and both silver: HS Prannoy in 2010 and Lakshya Sen in 2018. Sen also took gold that year in a mixed team made up of players from eight countries.
The Badminton Association of India hailed the result. “Tanvi Patri has made the entire nation proud with a historic achievement at the Youth Olympic Games,” its general secretary said. “Winning a silver medal at just 15 is an extraordinary accomplishment.”
It was a final of fine margins. Tanvi led by a game against the world junior champion, saved five match points and stood one point from gold three times before the decider slipped away 26-24.