Tanvi finishes runners-up at Swiss International

New Delhi: Former junior national champion, Tanvi Lad finished runners-up at the Swiss International Challenge badminton tournament after suffering a straight-game defeat against USA`s Beiwen Zhang in the women`s singles competition at Yverdon-Ies-Bains, Switzerland.

World number 67 Tanvi had reached her maiden international final yesterday after beating seventh seed Yuka Kusunose of Japan in the semifinal but she could not produce her best in the summit clash and went down 12-21, 12-21 in a 26-minute match. World number 160 Zhang was much better with her smashes and net play and she completely dominated the match from the word go. In the first game, Tanvi failed to get anywhere near the American, who opened up a slender 3-0 lead early on and then kept increasing the gap to eventually pocket the game. The sixth seed Indian tried to make a comeback in the second game but Zhang always had her nose ahead. Tanvi came to 9-10 but she could not challenge Zhang, who broke off after that and sealed the match comfortably in the end.