India continues to impress, wins five more medals at Commonwealth Youth Games

Apia (Samoa): Indians continued their strong show in the 5th Commonwealth Youth Games by bagging five medals, including two gold, on the second day of competitions here today. Weightlifter Deepak Lather (boys 62kg category) and javelin thrower Mohd Hadish bagged a gold each in their respective events while Jisna Mathew won a silver in girls 400m race. Chandan Bauri (boys 400m) and Velavan Senthilkumar (boys squash singles) won a bronze each to continue India’s medal haul on the second day. [caption id=“attachment_2425924” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Getty[/caption] With five medals today, India’s count swelled to four gold, two silver and two bronze and occupied the fifth spot in the tally after Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand at the end of the second day. Indians had won two gold and one silver on the opening day of competitions yesterday. 15-year-old weightlifter Lather gave the gold to India in boys 62kg category as he lifted a total of 258kg with 120kg in snatch and 138kg in clean and jerk. His effort in snatch was a new CYG record. Indian track and field athletes took part in three finals on the second day of competitions and all of them delivered personal best performances while winning a medal each in their respective events. Javelin thrower Mohd Hadish, a silver medallist in the inaugural Asian Youth Championships at Doha earlier this year, proved to be a cut above the rest in the field as he set out the spear to a whooping distance of 79.29m in securing the gold. Although he marginally missed the Games Record of 81.53m set by South African Morne Moolman in the last edition held at Isle of Man in 2011, the Indian thrower dominated the field as the second placed George Davies from England stood a distant 68.23m for the silver medal. Quarter-milers Jisna Mathew and Chandan Bauri also gave their best efforts in winning a bronze each. Jisna, an upcoming athlete from the stables of legendary P T Usha and another Doha silver medallist, clocked an impressive 53.14 secs to settle for silver in the girls’ 400m final. She missed the gold in just 5/100th of a second to Jamaican Junelle Bromfield. Nigeria’s Idamadudu Praise Oghenef took the bronze in a close time of 53.20 secs. Bengal boy Chandan Bauri, drawn in the finals with World Youth Championship finalists, ran a career best 46.99 secs to claim a bronze medal. Botswana’s Karabo Sibanda, fifth in the Youth Worlds at Cali, Colombia in July, posted a personal best and Games Record 45.83 secs for the top spot. Jamal Walton from Cayman Islands, who clocked an impressive 45.99s in his fourth place finish at Cali, finished with a silver medal today in a time of 46.46 secs. All the three performances of Indian athletes today were also new Indian youth records in the respective events. In other athletics events, half-miler Beant Singh qualified for tomorrow’s 800m final with a below-par 1:52.93 as a fastest loser in the heats today. In boys squash, Senthilkumar beat Pakistan’s Israr Ahmad in the bronze medal match with a scoreline of 3-0 (11-0, 11-0, 11-0). PTI