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The young gun Tasnim Mir has brought laurels to India as she scripted history by grabbing No.1 ranking in the under-19 girls singles in the latest BWF junior rankings. She has become the first Indian junior player to reach this milestone.
Tasnim, who hails from Gujarat, has won four junior international tournaments, with thee of them – Bulgarian Junior Championship, Alpes International, and Belgian Junior coming in 2021.
“I can’t say that I expected this. I thought I will not be able to become no 1 as tournaments were getting affected by COVID-19 but I won three events in Bulgaria, France and Belgium. So I am really excited and happy that finally I could become the world no 1. It is a great moment for me,” Tasnim said on the historic feat.
With this achievement, Tasnim has managed to do something which has never been achieved by any Indian girl, including Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist P V 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.
For the last four years, Tasnim Mir has been training under Edwin Iriawan, an Indonesian coach, at the Assam Badminton Academy in Guwahati. Tasnim talked about her experience of being trained under Edwin that it was great and they get to train with men players that helped her in improving her game.
“I have been training for last four years under Edwin, it has been great experience, we get to train with men players, so I has helped to improve my game,” said the teenager, who won the 2019 Dubai Junior International.
Tasnim got her first lessons on badminton from her father Irfan Mir, who is a badminton coach and also ASI in Mehsana police.
“My father is a badminton coach and also works for Mehsana police. He has always been interested in sports and used to take me alongwith him when I was about 7-8 years old,” she added.
Tasnim, who is supported by OGQ, is currently ranked a lowly 602 in the women’s singles.
Tasnim, post achieving the rare feat, is surely the future prospect of Indian badminton and have all the skill sets to carry the same momentum embarking into the senior circuit.
