India’s Tanvi Sharma in action. File.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
India’s Tanvi Sharma stunned Japan’s sixth seed Natsuki Nidaira in straight games to storm into the semifinals of the $250,000 Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday (March 20, 2026).
The 17-year-old, who is a silver medallist at the BWF World Junior Championships, registered a 21-14, 21-14 in 43 minutes in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Tanvi, who is the youngest Indian to reach a BWF World Tour final at the 2025 U.S. Open Super 300, will take on either former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan or Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh next.
Isharani Baruah emerged winner in another quarterfinals after Malvika Bansod retired while lagging 9-21 7-15 in an all Indian clash.
Isharani, who reached the finals of Odisha Masters Super 100, will face Thailand’s Pitchamon Opatniputh.
On Thursday, Malvika had defeated Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching, while Isharani surpassed Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang.
In men’s doubles quarterfinals, Leo Carnando and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia ended the campaign of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun with a 21-12, 22-20 win.
On Thursday, Ayush Shetty suffered a loss to Japan’s world No. 39 Yudai Okimoto, while mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde lost 21-19 9-21 14-21 to Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France.
Published – March 21, 2026 01:50 am IST
