India, Nov. 5 -- Tanvi Patri closes in on a historic gold medal after becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the women's singles final of the Youth Olympic Games here.

The 15-year-old from Odisha continued her impressive run, stunning Japan's second seed Yuzuno Watanabe 21-14, 11-21, 21-19 in a hard-fought 54-minute semifinal to book her place in the title clash. Tanvi had earlier scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals, defeating Thailand's Kungkaew Kakanik.

She now has a chance to cap her memorable campaign with gold when she takes on China's Yi Xin Zhang, the reigning World Junior Championships champion, in the final.

The two players have met only once before, in the quarterfinals of ...