Tanvi Sharma’s frittering of leads is due to physical fitness, not some mental fragility

File image of shuttler Tanvi Sharma. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)

5 min readSep 13, 2026 09:18 AM IST First published on: Sep 13, 2026 at 09:18 AM IST

These are sobering times for Tanvi Sharma, anointed by Indian badminton fans as the next big thing after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. She was outplayed in the Junior World Championships final, and on Saturday at the Vietnam Open, the 18-year-old lost 21-19, 22-20 to Thai prodigy Saruntong Vitidsarn, sister of former world champion Kunlavut, and Thai Gen Next in her own right after Ratchanok Intanon.

Saruntong is 20, Tanvi two years younger, still green on the seniors circuit, with a game that needs small tweaks and greater physicality, both of which take time.