Badminton Asia Championships: Tanvi enters U-15 girls singles final, Gnana Dattu bags bronze medal

New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) India’s top junior shuttler Tanvi Patri registered a dominating win over Thailand’s Kungkaew Kakanik to reach the U-15 girls singles final at the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 junior championships in Chengdu, China on Saturday.

Patri, seeded no. 1, was made to work hard in the opening game before the Indian prevailed 21-19 21-10 over sixth seed Kakanik in just 31 minutes.

In the final, she will 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 heart-break for Gnana Dattu TT in the U-17 boys singles as he went down to 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 last edition of the championships, India had won the gold medal in the boy’s 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: Radithya Bayu Wardhana (Ina) lost to 2-Gnana Dattu TT (Ind) 9-21, 21-13, 21-13.