Dakar (Senegal), Nov 1 (IANS) Second seed Dev Ruparelia and top star Tanvi Patri made winning starts in their respective men’s and women’s singles preliminary groups in the badminton competition at the Summer Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.
Ruparelia, fresh off his international junior Grand Prix title in Pune, defeated H. Nournan of Senegal in straight sets in men’s singles Group H, winning 21-9, 21-3 on Sunday.
Tanvi Patri, seeded third, too, had it easy as she defeated Jang Yu Jeong of South Korea in women’s singles Group F, winning 21-8, 21-11.
Second seed Dev Ruparelia has been placed in Group H of the men’s singles competition alongside Shaurya Gullaiya (Canada), Petr Briza (Czech Republic) and Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Diagne (Senegal).
In the women’s singles competition, third seed Tanvi Patri has been drawn in Group F, where she will face Smrithi Adepu (Australia), Sara Patricia Delgado Gonzalez (Mexico) and Jang Yu Jeong (Korea).
The badminton competition at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games will feature men’s and women’s singles events, with 32 players competing in each category. The competition will be played across two stages – Group Stage followed by the Knockouts.
The players have been divided into eight groups of four, with each player facing the other three players in their respective group. The group winner from each group will advance to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage, followed by the semi-finals and medal matches, with the gold and bronze medals decided on November 5.
Both Indian shuttlers will look to top their respective groups and secure a place in the knockout stages as they aim to make their mark on the Youth Olympic stage.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s Elvira Espinosa won the first gold medal of the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games on Sunday, clocking a personal-best 4 minutes, 22.87 seconds in the women’s 400-metre freestyle.
The Ecuadorian improved on her previous personal best of 4:25.34, set at the 2026 South American Youth Games. “That’s my best result in all the competitions I had, and this gold medal is the best of the best,” she added.
The fastest heat began at around 10:19 a.m. local time at the outdoor 50-meter pool at Complexe Tour l’Oeuf, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius under cloudy skies. “In my country, the weather is similar, but the sun is not that burning like this. The water was good. I don’t have a problem with that,” Espinosa said.
South Africa’s Leah Markgraaff took silver in 4:26.13, while Belgium’s Celya Paques claimed bronze in 4:28.37.
–IANS
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