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Youth Olympics: Yuki Bhambri, Arjun clinch silver medals

Last updated on: August 21, 2010 19:53 IST

Yuki Bhambri and Arjun won a silver medal each in tennis and discus throw respectively as Indians returned their best medal haul of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games on the seventh day of the competition in Singapore on Saturday.

India's Yuki Bhambri returns to Colombia's Juan Sebastian Gomez during their men's singles final at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games on SaturdayYuki had to settle for a silver after retiring hurt after suffering cramps in his legs in the boys tennis final.

The sixth-seeded Indian, who had stunned second seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina en route to the final, was trailing 1-4 against Juan Sebastian Gomez of Colombia in the third and deciding set when he retired hurt and conceded the match 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 1-4 at Kallang Tennis Centre.

Arjun wrapped up the day with a silver in discus throw with an effort of 62.52m at Bishan Stadium. Jaques Du Plessis of South Africa won gold with an effort of 63.94m.

Boxer Vikas Krishan also reached the medal round after defeating Hrayr Matevosyan of Armenia 7-2 in boys 60kg.

"Ended up on the losing side. It is unfortunate to cramp in such a big match. I would have liked to try and go ahead but could not. I thank all of you, especially Indians, for cheering me. I will have to be happy with just a silver this time but hopefully gold next time," Yuki said after the match.

With two silver on Saturday, India's medal tally now stands at five - four silver and a bronze.

Wrestler Pooja Dhanda had bagged a silver in Women's 60kg freestyle while Kadian Satyawart fetched a bronze in Men's 100kg freestyle. Shuttler HS Prannoy also fetched a silver.

In the 60kg Boys preliminary round boxing, youth world champion Vikas had a strong opponent in Matevosyan.

At the end of round one the scoreline read 1-1. But in the second round, Vikas made intelligent moves by side-stepping tactically as directed by coach G Manoharan whereby his opponent's defence was opened and the Indian took a 6-1 lead.

In the third round, Vikas scored one more point and maintained his lead to win with a final score of 7-2.

"It was an easy bout. I had stronger opponents at the Indian Elite Championships, and I want to win this Youth Olympics. My bigger goal is the London Olympic Games in 2012," said Vikas.

Vikas now meets his Youth World Championship silver medalist opponent Petrauskas Evaldas of Lithuania in the semi-finals on Sunday.

India's other entry Shiva Thapa, a silver medallist at Youth World Championships in 54kg, got a bye and moved into semi-finals. He meets Zack Davies of Great Britain on Sunday.

In the Boys 55kg judo, Subash Yadav missed a bronze as he lost to Dmytro Atanov of Ukraine in the third place play-off.

Earlier in the day, the Indian had beaten Diau Bauro of Fiji before losing to Mansurkhuja Muminkhujaev of Uzbekistan.

In the Women's 44kg judo, Neha Thakur lost her Repechage A final to Yoana Damyanova of Bulgaria.

In table tennis, Avik Das lost both his Boys preliminary round matches while Mallika Bhandarkar won one and lost two of her group matches.

In the Girls 5000m walk race final, Khushbir Kaur finished a disappointing 13th with an effort of 25:30.27s.

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