Shuttler Siya clinches U-14 title after hard-fought win

Siya Singh returns to Alisha Naik in the U-14 badminton final and Saransh Gajbhiye competes against Darius Pardiwala. Pics/Suresh Karkera

Siya Singh of Fatima High School (Vidyavihar) showed great resilience and remarkable fighting qualities as she squashed the aspiration of fancied Alisha Naik of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya (Borivli) in an engrossing girls' under-14 final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised inter school badminton tournament at the Cricket Club of India badminton courts on Saturday.

Perfectly executing the strategies of coach Hufrish Nariman, Siya scored a fighting 15-21, 21-18, 21-12 victory to emerge victorious. The boys' under-14 final also witnessed a close battle for supremacy before second seed Saransh Gajbhiye of Ryan International (Goregaon) got the better of top seed Darius Pardiwala of Bombay Scottish (Mahim) 21-19, 22-24, 21-16.

"It is a very satisfying win as it was a very tough match. She played to her strength and often caught me off guard with some deceptive drop shots and took the first game. But in the second game, I decided to stay a little bit more in front and managed to read her shots better. I grew in confidence and played more comfortably," Siya said after her hard-fought win.

Siya, seeded second, found the going tough against the top-seeded Alisha and tamely lost the first game. But, it was a completely different scenario in the next two games as Siya showed positive intent. Meanwhile, Harissha Dubey of Jamnabai Narsee (Juhu) beat Anamika Singh of Gokuldham (Goregaon) 21-16, 21-14 to win the girls' under-16 crown, while Deviah Jain of Utpal Sanghvi Global School (Powai) rallied to overcome Sushant Ravya of Atomic Energy Central School (Anushakti Nagar) 11-21, 21-19, 21-11 to clinch the boys' under-16 title.

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