Dakar Youth Olympics: Riyan Malhan wins the boys' singles and the UAE's first gold
The 16-year-old beat France's Mady Sow 21-17, 21-18 in the final, while China's Zhang Yixin and Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe also took medals in the girls' singles.
The boys' singles final
At the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal, 16-year-old Riyan Malhan of the United Arab Emirates won the boys' singles on Thursday 5 November. According to The Star and Khaleej Times, he beat France's Mady Sow 21-17, 21-18; Emirates 24|7 gives the result as 2-0 in games. The Star calls Sow the top seed and puts the final at the Dakar Arena.
What makes it historic
All three outlets present it as a first for the UAE: Khaleej Times writes that it is the country's first gold medal at the Youth Olympics, and Emirates 24|7 adds that it is only the UAE's second medal in the history of the Games; Gulf News reports that the first was a showjumping silver at Buenos Aires 2018. The Star says it is the Gulf nation's first gold in any sport since its debut at the Games in 2010.
The road to gold
Khaleej Times reports that Malhan, who was born in Dubai to Indian parents, won his group games against players from Sweden, Greece and Malaysia, then the quarter-final against Thailand and the semi-final against China. It quotes the UAE federation saying he won all six matches without dropping a game. The Star adds that Malaysia's Lucas Lee lost to him in the last Group F match, and that only the group winner went through. Malhan told the Olympic Information Service, quoted by The Star, that he had a high fever before the tournament and "was not fit at all". Khaleej Times notes that a little over a month earlier he had won the singles at the Badminton Asia U17 and U15 Junior Championships in Chengdu.
The other medals
According to The Star, China's Hong Tianyue took the boys' singles bronze by beating South Korea's Park Jun-bin 21-17, 21-12. In the girls' singles, the same report says China's Zhang Yixin beat India's Tanvi Patri 15-21, 21-13, 26-24 in 82 minutes (our article of 8 November covers that final), and Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe took bronze, beating Taiwan's Cheng Chih-yun 21-14, 21-8. The Japanese Olympic Committee's page on Yahoo! Sports Navi also shows Watanabe with a bronze medal after the third-place match.
Why it matters
Youth Games medals do not predict a senior career, but they show where junior talent is spreading: a Gulf country with little badminton tradition now has a Youth Olympic champion, and France has a finalist. We do not make forecasts.