From battling illness to making history — Behind Tanvi Patri’s journey to Youth Olympics silver

Tanvi Patri won silver at the recently concluded Youth Olympic Games in Dakar. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Indian shuttler Tanvi Patri came away with a historic silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar after a campaign that began with illness and ended with a gutsy three-game final.

Illness hit her at the worst time. Tanvi fell sick before the World Junior Championships in Egypt and could not perform well there. The fever lingered after she returned home.

“I took complete rest for one week, practised for just two days and then went to Dakar,” she said in a media interaction. “I am happy with my performance there.”

Conditions in Dakar were another test. “The village and the athlete hostel were arranged really nice. The only challenge was that there was no AC, it was so hot and humid, and there were mosquitoes.”

Tanvi explained how the title match unfolded. “In the first set, I played from the slow side and managed to play well. In the second set, when I went to that side, my opponent was in a better position and started playing loose cross-drops on my backhand, which was tougher for me to take. If I left back, I was scared that the shuttle might fall,” she said.

She changed her approach in the decider. “In the third set I thought I should reduce my errors and play the net, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. In the end I tried to lift some shuttles, because the shuttles had become slow as they were old. I let her move to all four corners, and she also made mistakes in the end.”

Tanvi admitted she let a chance slip in the closing stages. “If I had just hit that smash inside, I would have scored the point and won. In future tournaments, when the score is neck-and-neck, I should play inside the court and not target the lines too much.”

The experience, she said, has given her belief. “Competing at the Youth Olympics was really special. I gained so much confidence that even if I’m down in points, I should not give up and still give my best.”

The gold continued China’s dominance in junior badminton. Zhang, the reigning world junior champion, added Youth Olympic gold to her World Junior title from Cairo, making her the most dominant youth player in the world right now.

Tanvi’s own badminton roots lie in China, where her father worked for Nike. She was seven and a half when she started playing doubles at a club where he played in the evenings. A Chinese coach spotted her and invited her to join his academy.

“I spent almost three years there,” Tanvi said. “I went for an open tournament and I lost, and the next tournament, one month later, I performed well and won. So my Chinese coaches thought, ‘Let us focus on her playing.’ It started like that.”

The training in China, she said, was built on technique, and her first coach, Xu, left a lasting lesson. “He taught me that we should always focus on techniques first. Don’t go play a hundred shuttles at a time. First, focus on your actions, and when you’re perfect at it, go step by step. Don’t rush.”

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Xu passed away last year, and Tanvi remains in touch with her other Chinese coach, Wu. She also credited blade skating in China for her body balance.

Tanvi moved back to India around 2020 during COVID and trained in Odisha for about a year and a half. A Chinese coach then pointed her to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru. “We emailed the academy, and they invited us for a camp. After that camp, I got selected and joined in 2022 or ‘23.”

Injuries followed, a knee problem first, then her hamstring, and then her back this February. “The coaches here have really helped me improve my speed, and they took care of me when I was injured too.”

At the Bengaluru academy, she wants to work on her errors on the faster side, her half smashes and accuracy, along with her strength, physical condition and health.

Her goals are clear. “For the next two or three years, my aim is to qualify for LA 2028. I know it’s hard, but I’ll try my best. Next year, my goal is to win the Asian Under-19 Junior Championships and the World Junior Championships, and give my best to win medals for my country. The next target is to be in the top 30 and then the top 20 in the BWF rankings by next year end.”

She is realistic after her injuries. “Earlier I used to say my aim was to win a medal for my country, but I had a back injury and a hamstring injury, so for now my aim is to qualify for LA and play my best there.”

Among the players she admires are Viktor Axelsen, Lin Dan and Taufik Hidayat, as well as An Se-young. “I like their attitude on the court. They don’t give up points easily, even if they’re down. Their strokes are very confident and accurate, and they are always patient. An Se-young wins all the tournaments, and her stroke selection is really good. She doesn’t forcefully play random strokes.”