Tanvi Sharma with her coach Park Tae-sang
India’s 17-year-old starlet Tanvi Sharma has won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open badminton championships.
But is was a day to forget for the Malaysians, who saw both the doubles pairings in the finals, failing to clinch the titles.
Tanvi, ranked 34th, upset sixth seeded Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam, ranked 13th rungs above her, 21-16, 21-16 in the women’s singles final.
She is now only the fourth Indian women’s singles player to win a BWF Super 300 or higher after PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Devika Sihag.
She has lost in all her previous final appearances on the Tour including at the Odisha Masters two years ago, and the Guwahathi Masters and US Open Super 300 last year.
Her 36-minute victory also sees her emulate Saina, who won the Taipei Open in 2008, the same year she was born.
A silver medallist at the world junior championships last year, Tanvi is now the third-youngest player in the world to win a BWF Super 300 title.
She made a confident start to the final to unsettle Olympian Nguyễn Thùy Linh and race to a commanding early lead.
Although a few unforced errors allowed the Vietnamese to narrow the gap, the Indian regained her composure after the mid-game interval with controlled attacking play to take the opening game.
Nguyễn responded after the change of ends, opening the second game with a 3-0 advantage but Tanvi quickly wrested back control by dictating the rallies with a mix of precise net play and smart deception.
Tanvi then maintained her grip on the remainder of the final and despite squandering three match points, the 17-year-old held her nerve to convert her fourth opportunity and wrap up the contest.
Japan’s Yudai Okimoto, the fourth seed, played a controlled game to beat unseeded Korean Yoo Tae-bin 21-19, 21-12 for the men’s singles title.
Both the higher ranked Malaysian pairs in the women’s doubles and men’s doubles failed to live up to the expectations.
Top seeded Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan were beaten 16-21, 18-21 by unseeded Sumire Nakade-Miyu Takahashi of Japan in the women’s doubles finals.
The newly forged pairing of Aaron Chai-Aaron Tai, the fifth seeds were beaten in the men’s doubles final. Indonesians Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin took the crown with a hard-earned 23-21, 21-19 win.
There was also an upset in the mixed doubles, with eight seeds Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi of Japan upstaging second seeds Yang Po-Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-8.
FINAL RESULTS
Men’s singles: Yudai Okimoto (Jpn) bt Yoo Tae-bin (Kor) 21-19, 21-12
Men’s doubles: Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin (Ina) bt Aaron Chia-Aaron Tai (Mas) 23-21, 21-19
Women’s singles: Tanvi Sharma (Ind) bt Nguyen Thuy Linh (Vie) 21-16, 21-16
Women’s doubles: Sumire Nakade-Miyu Takahashi (Jpn) bt Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) 21-16, 21-18
Mixed doubles: Yuta Watanabe-Maya Taguchi (Jpn) bt Yang Po-Hsuan-Hu Ling Fang (Tpe) 21-19, 21-8
