Asian Junior Championship: Samiya Farooqui holds her nerve to clinch U-15 women's singles crown in thrilling final

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 in Yangon on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_4122145” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Fourteen year Indian shuttler Samiya Farooqui with the Indian flag after being crowned as the champion. Image courtesy: BAI[/caption] 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.