Tanvi Patri, only 15, came from 10-19 down in the decider and reached 20-20. She made Chinese junior World champion Zhang Yi Xin, 17, suffer her frittering of 6 very nervy match points, before letting go of the gold medal at the Youth Olympics in badminton’s girls singles final at Dakar Senegal.

In an 82-minute classic between badminton’s hottest rivalry of India vs China, a titanic teen battle panned out as Zhang saved 3 match points finishing with a 21-15, 13-21, 24-26 scoreline as the Indian dragged her all the way into a corner, before the tiniest of net clips gave her a 25-24 escape, and then Tanvi sent one wide to deliver a fantastic final. And a silver she will be proud of and get pensive over, in equal measure.

At 10-19 in the third, Tanvi was down and almost out of it as the momentum had swung and she was playing tired strokes. But the Odiya youngster doesn’t give up. So she carefully built 9 of the next 10 points, well aware of the Chinese being nervous in a puddle of errors.…