While Tasnim Mir became the first Indian girl to achieve the no 1 ranking in Junior Badminton circuit, Aditya Joshi, Siril Verma, and Lakshya Sen are the Indian boys who previously got this honour.
Tasnim Mir has managed to surpass the achievement of Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in Junior category. The BWF Junior rankings started in 2011 when Saina Nehwal had already graduated to the senior level. Sindhu, however, has been a World No. 2 in the Juniors during her U-19 days. Another Indian shuttler, Samiya Imad Farooqui, came close but could only reach the second spot in the junior rankings.
Tasnim, who hails from Gujarat, became World No 1 on the basis of her last year’s stellar run when she secured three junior international titles- Bulgarian Junior Championship, Alpes International and Belgian Junior.“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 told PTI.
Tasnim has been training under Indonesian coach Edwin Iriawan at the Assam Badminton Academy in Guwahati for the last four years. She got her first lessons on Badminton from her father Irfan Mir, who is a badminton coach and also ASI in Mehsana police. She won national championships in under-13, under-15 and under-19 girls’ singles categories. In 2019, Tasnim won the Asian U-17 & U-15 Junior Championships in Indonesia and in 2020 she emerged victorious at the President Cup Nepal Junior International Series 2020 in Kathmandu.
