Mom’s gruelling 4 am drill behind Punjab girl Tanvi’s US Open glory

Had her mother Meena Sharma not mentored her in her initial years and undertaken all the labour for her, things would have been different for Hoshiarpur teen Tanvi Sharma (16), who was ranked as Junior World No. 1 in badminton on Tuesday. She also became the first runner-up at the BWF Super 300 US Open 2025 held on Monday.

As Tanvi’s comparison is being drawn with badminton stars PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, all those who have watched the daily grind that Meena used to go through share that she has been an early riser throughout. “She would reach the Hoshiarpur badminton stadium at 4 am and coach her two daughters — elder Radhika (now 20) and Tanvi. She would bolt the stadium from inside and make them practise rigorously for one and a half hours before getting them ready for school,” said honorary secretary of the Punjab Badminton Association Ritin Khanna.

Meena’s determination to make a career for her daughter in sports was not limited to the morning and evening sessions she conducted for them. From 2016-21, she took them to Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad and stayed with them for five years. During this time, she not only took care of their diet, game and studies but also trained as a badminton coach for them. “Henceforth, mother Meena became a personal coach for her daughters, both of whom are international badminton champions today,” said Khanna.

“Even though this is just the beginning for Tanvi, the accolades she has been receiving are enough to make me feel extremely proud. Her coach Park Tae Sang’s comment that he can see the same aggression and attack in Tanvi that he saw in Sindhu is the biggest accomplishment for her so far. Olympian PV Sindhu has already congratulated her on the phone and continues to guide her," said Meena, a former volleyball player and now a badminton coach at Hoshiarpur Badminton Academy.

Meena said, “Tanvi met Sindhu when she had just started playing. There was an event in Noida where Sindhu was the chief guest. From the crowd of budding shuttlers there, Sindhu spotted and picked Tanvi and practised with her for a while. Perhaps it was from that moment that she kept saying she wanted to be like Sindhu one day.”

She added, “It was never my intention to train Tanvi in badminton. Actually, I was focusing only on Radhika. For Radhika’s practice, I had to take Tanvi along or else she would have spent hours on her phone at home. We noticed that she had started winning medals at a very young age, after which we began focusing on her too.” In December 2022, Tanvi won the finals of U-15 singles, U-17 singles and U-15 mixed doubles in the National Badminton Championship. She also bagged a silver in U-19 singles in the same tournament, creating history as the only Indian player to achieve such a feat.

Both Tanvi and Radhika are currently training in Guwahati under national coach Park Tae Sang. Tanvi has already signed an agreement with IOS Sports and Entertainment, which will support her in all national and international events. As Tanvi returns tomorrow from the US, she will go directly to Guwahati to resume training as she prepares for the Asian Championship in Indonesia from July 18 to 27.

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