WEB DESK
Young Indian shuttler Tasnim Mir on Wednesday (January 12) became the first Indian to achieve the world no 1 ranking in the under-19 girls singles in the latest BWF junior rankings. The 16-year-old Mir jumped three places to reach the top position in the junior world rankings in the women’s singles category with 10,810 points.
With this achievement, Tasnim has managed to do something which has never been achieved by any Indian girl, including two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and London bronze winner Saina Nehwal.
The BWF Junior rankings started in 2011 and by then, Saina didn’t make the cut for being a junior while Sindhu was a World No. 2 in the juniors during her U-19 days. In Boys singles, three shuttlers — Lakshya Sen, Siril Verma and Aditya Joshi had become the world no 1.
Tasnim, who hails from Gujarat, has won 4 junior international tournaments, with 3 of them – Bulgarian Junior Championship, Alpes International, and Belgian Junior coming in 2021.
Tasnim started playing badminton at the age of six
Her father, Irfan, said that Tasnim started playing badminton at the age of six. There was a point when he had considered asking her to stop playing but she could continue after receiving sponsorship.
Irfan says that Tasnim has won a total of 22 titles in different categories thus far. “Now we hope that she becomes a senior champion as well and win for the country at the Olympics,” Irfan told India Today.
Tasnim has won four junior international tournaments, with three of them – Bulgarian Junior Championship, Alpes International, and Belgian Junior coming in 2021. She has also won the under-15 and under-17 titles in the Asian Junior Championships.
Tasnim is training at the Assam Badminton Academy in Guwahati since 2020. The 16-year-old, who used to train at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton from 2017, shifted to Assam as her mixed doubles partner Ayan Rashid used to train in Guwahati. Tasnim moved to that academy to train with Rashid. Impressed with the facilities there, she wants to continue in Assam.