YANGON: Indian shuttler Samiya Imad Farooqui clinched the gold medal at the Under-15 women’s singles competition after defeating Indonesia’s Widjaja Stephani at the Asian Junior Championship here.
The third-seeded Indian, who had reached the finals at Pembangunan Jaya Raya International Junior Grand Prix U-19 in April, defeated Stephani 15-21 21-17 21-19 in a 56-minute match to lay claim to the coveted title.
P V Sindhu had won the gold in U-19 Asia Junior championship in 2012 at Gimcheon, South Korea.
Samiya found the going tough in the opening game as Stephani jumped to a 6-1 lead early on and kept distancing herself to grab it easily.
However, the 14-year-old from Hyderabad made a roaring comeback in the second game, opening a 6-2 lead and then grabbing a 13-8 lead.
The Indonesian clawed back at 13-13 but Samiya managed to wriggle out and eventually forced the match into a decider.
In the third game, Stephani and Samiya entered in a tooth and nail battle but the Indonesian managed to hold a 12-7 lead. Samiya however ensured that she did not go down without a fight and soon she clawed back to 16-16 and turned the tables eventually.
PTI