DAKAR — Fifteen-year-old Tanvi Patri became the first Indian women's singles badminton player to win a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games, losing a closely contested final to reigning world junior champion Zhang Yi Xin of China in Dakar, Senegal, on Thursday, ANI reported, citing the official press release on the match.

Source: ANI via Reporter World News

The result completes the run reported a day earlier, when Patri beat Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe 21-14, 11-21, 21-19 in the semi-final to become the first Indian woman to reach a Youth Olympic badminton final and guarantee India its first-ever women's singles medal at the Games.

In Thursday's final, Patri went down 15-21, 21-13, 24-26 in one hour and 22 minutes. She saved six match points and created three of her own before Zhang's experience proved decisive in the closing points, according to the release reported by ANI and MyKhel.

Source: MyKhel

The decider swung sharply: Zhang built a 19-10 lead with her cross-court drops, Patri fought back to 19-15 and then saved the match points that followed, levelling the game before falling 24-26, the reports said.

Before Patri, HS Prannoy in 2010 and Lakshya Sen in 2018 had won individual silver medals in badminton at the Youth Olympic Games; Sen also won a mixed team gold with Team Alpha, a squad drawn from eight countries, ANI noted.

Congratulating Patri, the Badminton Association of India general secretary said she had made the entire nation proud, calling a silver medal at 15 an extraordinary accomplishment and a significant milestone for Indian sport, according to the release. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also congratulated the teenager on becoming the first Indian woman to claim a badminton medal at the Youth Olympics, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat