Sindhu-like talent with Olympic medal potential: Meet 13-year-old badminton prodigy Tanvi Patri

New Delhi: Thirteen-year-old Tanvi Patri from Odisha has cemented her status as one of India's most promising badminton prodigies by clinching the girls' singles title at the U-15 Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Junior Championships in Chengdu, China, the country where she first honed her skills in the sport.

Patri capped off a phenomenal week with a superlative performance, defeating Vietnam's second seed Thi Thu Huyen Nguyen 22-20, 21-11 in a 34-minute final, offering a glimmer of hope after Indian badminton's recent struggles at the Paris Olympics.

"I'm feeling good after winning the title," Patri told PTI from Chengdu.

"I had expected to win, and I’m happy I could do that. I’ve been training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bangalore for the last two years." Patri displayed remarkable resilience, fighting back from 11-17 down in the opening game to win the title without dropping a game throughout the tournament.

Her parents, Rabinarayan Patri and Sailabala Panda, are software professionals who previously worked in China, where she first took up badminton.

The family returned to India in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vimal Kumar, Director of PPBA, sees great promise in Tanvi, even drawing comparisons to the early days of P V Sindhu, one of India’s most celebrated badminton players.

"She was about eight or nine when she moved to India and joined the academy in 2022," said Vimal.

"She reminds me of Sindhu when she was young. The ability to win matches at a young age is a good sign. She has a long way to go, and with her temperament, she has great potential." Rabinarayan, a software engineer who works from home, accompanies Patri to the academy. In November 2022, he drove 1,400 km from Bengaluru to Balangir for Patri's participation in the state sub-junior badminton tournament.

"She is ahead of her age group," Vimal noted.

"In the last six months, she has won U-17 tournaments and defeated several senior players, including the current national championship finalist, Tanvi Sharma.

"If she improves her strength and continues to develop, she could be a strong contender for the 2028 or 2032 Olympics." Patri, who also enjoys skating, began her badminton training under Chinese coach Jiang Yong Yi and won nine titles in China between 2017 and 2020. After returning to India, she was spotted by PPBA during a camp and joined the academy in March 2022.

She went on to claim both the U-15 and U-17 girls' singles titles in the All India sub-junior ranking tournaments in Hyderabad in June and Mapusa, Goa, in May this year.

Tanvi also won the gold medal in the 35th Sub-Junior National Championships in Balangir, Odisha, last November and became the first shuttler from Odisha to win the girls' singles title in the 34th Sub-Junior (U-13) National Championships in Lucknow in 2022.

A class eight student, Patri had reached the quarterfinals at the German Junior International in Berlin in March.