Samiya Imad Farooqui beats Widjaja Stephani to bag gold at Yangon

Yangon (Myanmar): 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 on Sunday.

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. Samiya clawed back to a 16-16 and turned the tables eventually to take the title home.