Tanvi Sharma was not even born the last time an Indian women won a medal at the BWF World Junior Championships -- Saina Nehwal in 2008. Now, 17 years later, the 16-year-old top seed became just the third Indian to win a girls singles medal after beating Japan's Saki Matsumoto 13-15, 15-9, 15-10 in a 47-minute match in Guwahati.
It became a battle of nerves in the end, with a loud home crowd cheering her on, she had to control her anxiety to cross the finish line from 5-8 down in the decider. That's when her coach Park Taesang's advice came back to guide her, in a line reminiscent of Shah Rukh Khan's iconic speech from Chak De! India. "My coach said this is your last World Juniors. I was down 8-5, so he said these are your last seven points for juniors, just play your everything," Tanvi said.
After a few minutes, when she cracked a nifty, angled smash on the sideline on match point, and collapsed to the ground in celebration, the one person not too happy with it was her coach. Instead, he "gave her a scolding," he said after the match. The video of that moment -- Tanvi roaring in relief and getting a yelling from the coach in return -- may look like a tough love to a casual observer. But the paradoxical reaction is testament to the bond that Tanvi shares with Park, and that amount of confidence he has in his protégé.
"It was not a good match, I didn't like it. I gave her a good scolding," said Park, who believes Tanvi is far too skilled a player to make the mistakes she made against a player as defensive as the Japanese.
In the first game, Tanvi was leading 10-6 before she let up and Matsumoto scored seven straight points -- mostly due to the Indian's mistakes on the sidelines. She is a stroke-player and under pressure, the normally punchy shots can splay wide. The pressure of playing at home and the shorter format was telling. "To go from 10-6 to 13-15 is bad, very bad. Me and coach Sachin [Rana] were shouting at her from behind," says Park. He was livid at her mistakes on the lines, saying she has a great attacking game but the shuttle needs to land inside.
Losing the first game gave Tanvi a jolt, and she played much better in the second, with confidence coming back. She put together a good comeback from 5-5, creating shots and forcing mistakes. This was more like the attack Tanvi is known for.
What changed was perhaps Park's own unique way of giving a pep talk. He asked her what was wrong and she said she was feeling nervous. "Why nervous? Tanvi, you are the US Open runner up. You got a bronze medal at the Asian Junior Championship this year. Now you're at home, you train here in the stadium. Why are you nervous, it's just your excuse," he recounted emphatically after the match.
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The trick seemed to have worked. "I was very confident about from the first point of the second game, so I just played aggressive... I just have to give my best, I don't want to think much," Tanvi said.
Second game in the bag, decider enforced, momentum changed and a loud home crowd with drums. What could go wrong?
But the teen's nerves crept in again, as she found herself down 5-8 in the decider. Minutes earlier, Unnati Hooda's natural game has similarly collapsed under the pressure of winning a big medal at home. Tanvi had seen that, and it was playing in her mind too.
But she didn't falter, giving her absolute best to clinch the decider, the quarterfinal and the elusive medal, which turned to be India's only individual medal in the 2025 edition at home in Guwahati.
The more encouraging story though, is that this is India's first medal in girls singles since Saina Nehwal won the gold back in 2008, incidentally the last time India hosted the tournament. Tanvi now has a chance to emulate Saina's gold, and probably delay the often asked, and often tedious questions of "Who next after Saina, Sindhu?"
In the semis, she faces her toughest challenge yet, China's Liu Si Ya. Tanvi has already lost to her at the Asian Junior Championship earlier this year. But Coach Park says that result is in the past. "I have full confidence that Tanvi can beat the Chinese. She has the game, she has to keep the shuttle inside and play her game."
What about a return of nerves that plagues her today? "That I will talk to her soon," he says with a smile.
If Park's confidence and the home support comes true, Tanvi can do something extraordinary for Indian badminton on Saturday.