Sindhu in final of Asia Youth Championships

PV Sindhu

Gimcheon: PV Sindhu stormed into the women’s singles final of the Asia Youth U-19 Championships on Thursday, but teammate Sameer Verma fell just short. The two Indians made a strong impact on the prestigious event as they took down opponents from China and Korea in their run to the last four.

In the semifinals, Sindhu beat third seed Busanan of Thailand 21-19 21-16 and will next take on second seed Okuhara Nozomi of Japan. In earlier matches, Sindhu disposed of the challenges of China’s Sun Yu (6) 22-20 21-19 in the quarterfinals and Andriani Rina of Indonesia 21-10 21-19.

After her won over Sun Yu, Sindhu told Badzine.net: “I feel that I have improved my game between when I lost to Sun Yu last year and when I beat her today. She is taller, but even I’m taller so I could beat her with my smashes.“I was leading in the first game 20-18 but then it was 20-all and I was a little nervous. They were crucial points so I played my safe game and there were some longer rallies so I could win those because she seemed to be making lots of mistakes.”

Sameer Verma had an equally impressive campaign. The top-seeded Indian overcame China’s Guo Kai in the fourth round and then prevailed over Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the quarterfinals. However, the younger brother of national champion Sourabh Verma could not get beyond his semifinal opponent Momota Kento of Japan, seeded third.

Sameer told Badzine.net after his quarterfinal victory: “I have a lot of confidence because at the last GP Gold tournament, I beat Tanongsak, then today I beat the last Chinese player, so now I am more confident.

“I also beat Guo Kai in the quarterfinals of last year’s AJC (at Lucknow) so I am right on track to reach the final again. It wasn’t nervousness that caused me problems in the team competition. I don’t think I had yet recovered from the journey here.”