Youth Olympics 2026: Tanvi Patri settles for silver after losing to Zhang Yi Xin in badminton final

Tanvi Patri went down to China’s Zhang Yi Xin in a hard-fought women's singles final to win the silver medal on Thursday. | Photo Credit: BAI MEDIA

India’s Tanvi Patri settled for the silver medal in the women’s singles badminton final at the Youth Olympic Games 2026 in Dakar, on Thursday, after losing to China’s reigning World Junior champion Zhang Yi Xin.

The Indian shuttler took some time to settle in the opening game before reeling off seven consecutive points to move from 3-5 to 10-5. With her punch tosses creating plenty of openings and her net play under excellent control, she went on to take the first game in 25 minutes.

She started the second game with a 4-0 lead, but the drift from behind began to affect Tanvi’s control on her clears, and Zhang seized command after the mid-game interval to force a deciding game.

Zhang then asserted herself early in the decider with her trademark cross-court drops to build a 19-10 advantage. Tanvi battled back to cut the deficit to four at 19-15, but a cross-court smash error from the Indian gave her opponent five match points.

Tanvi saved all five and even created three chances to close out the gold medal. However, Zhang’s superior experience ultimately proved decisive.

Tanvi became the first Indian woman to win a badminton medal at the Youth Olympics, having defeated Japan’s Yuzuno Watanabe 21-14, 11-21, 21-19 in the semifinals.

Watanabe finished with the bronze medal.

Tanvi’s silver added to India’s previous Youth Olympics badminton medals won by H.S. Prannoy in 2010 and Lakshya Sen in 2018, both in men’s singles.