More gold for Team England at Commonwealth Youth Games
15th October 2008Team England had another successful day at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India winning three gold medals, three silver and two bronze.
Star of the show was shooter James Huckle from Harlow, who won his second gold medal in two days after a superb performance in the 50m-rifle 3 positions event. In contrast to yesterday’s nerve-wracking final, James established a commanding lead in the qualifying stages of today’s event - in which the competitors have to shoot from the prone, kneeling and standing positions - and increased his advantage in the final to finish 37.6 points ahead of the silver medallist Muhamed Bin Muhammed from Malaysia.
“It can be hard to concentrate in the final when you are so far clear,” admitted James, “but I just tried to focus on hitting the target. I shot really well today - when you make what you think is a mistake and you still hit a 10 then you know you are on form.”
The 18-year-old has an opportunity to make it three gold medals in tomorrow’s men’s 10m air rifle competition. “I’m hopeful,” he said, “but it is the most competitive event of the three so it will be tough.”
There was a further medal for Team England’s shooters today when Chester Cobb took the bronze in the men’s double trap event. The 17-year-old from Aylesbury was pleased to win a medal but disappointed with his final performance.
“I’ve been shooting well in training,” he said, “so I was hoping for a better performance today. It was windy but it didn’t affect the targets - I just didn’t shoot well.”
After watching her boyfriend Pete Smith win gold in yesterday’s men’s hammer competition, 17-year-old Sophie Hitchon followed suit today with gold in the women’s event. The Burnley student made a nervous start with a no-throw but was ultimately too good for her opponents - taking the lead with her second throw and then increasing her advantage with her third and best throw of 58.43, nearly eight metres further than the best throw of silver medallist Maria Badenhorst from South Africa.
“I was nervous before the competition,” Sophie admitted afterwards, “because there was a lot of pressure on me to win and when I missed my first throw it made me even more nervous. But I managed to get it together - I just wanted to get a throw in on my second attempt and when I did that I felt better.
“I felt more nervous for Pete yesterday than I did for myself. It was great that he won but I guess it put a bit more pressure on me. It’s nice that we can both go home with gold medals.”
Manchester athlete Abigail Irozuru won gold in the women’s long jump with a dominant performance. Her first jump of 5.88m would have been enough for gold and she increased her advantage with a fifth round jump of 5.92m.
Curtis Griffith-Parker added a silver medal in the discus to the gold he won in the shot yesterday. “I’m pretty happy with the distance I threw,” he said afterwards. “I could have thrown further but it was a good competition.”
Jordan McGrath from Birmingham snatched bronze in the men’s 400m after a strong finish.
“I got out well, which I haven’t been doing all season,” he said. “I lost my chance of gold in the third quarter of the race as I just switched off for a split-second but I’m pleased with bronze. I’ve never competed in these conditions before or had to cope with the travelling and the time difference and it’s been a big learning curve. It’s a nice way to end the season and hopefully I can build on this.”
The swimming events got underway today and Streatham student Louisa Farrer-Fisher won silver in the women’s 200m freestyle before helping the team to another silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
“I’m very pleased,” said Louisa after the 200m freestyle final. “I was the second quickest in the heats so I was hoping for a medal but I thought I would just see what I could do. I tried to pace the race right and do what I practice in training and I think I did that quite well. I was so close to the gold and you can always say ‘what if?’ but I’m happy with silver.”
“The girls swam really well,” said Richmond’s Natalie Durant, who swam the anchor leg on the relay, “and we all performed to expectations. The Aussies were very strong and I was trying my best to catch her in the final length.”
Team England’s boxing team is guaranteed five medals after five of the six boxers won their quarterfinal bouts.
Flyweight James Dickens was very impressive in beating his Australian opponent 16-0 and will be joined in the semi-finals by Iain Weaver (featherweight), Daniel Phillips (lightweight), John Quigley (bantamweight) and Kirk Garvery (middleweight).
“I was pleased to get that first fight out of the way,” said John Quigley, “as I’ve been getting very keyed up hanging around and watching the other lads fight. I feel more relaxed now ahead of tomorrow’s fight.”
Quigley will have to take on the partisan crowd as well as his Indian opponent but said: “I’m used to being the underdog and that won’t worry me. I’ve seen him fight and I know I can beat him.”
Team England will be represented in the semi-finals of the badminton women’s singles and men’s doubles tomorrow after wins for Panuga Riou, who survived a slow start to beat her Canadian opponent, and Richard Morris and Gary Fox.
“I normally start slowly so I wasn’t too worried when I lost the first game - I knew I could get back into it. I’m getting better with every match and I’m pleased with my game.”
Panuga will also have to take on the crowd tomorrow, as well as an Indian opponent who reached the Olympic quarterfinals in Beijing, but is determined to “just go for it.”
There was disappointment for the table tennis team as all three remaining players lost in the quarterfinals of the singles and then both men’s and women’s pairs lost their bronze medal matches in the doubles. Team England still has plenty of interest in the tennis competition, with wins today for Jade Windley and Lisa Whybourn in the girl’s singles and the doubles and Chris Harrison in the boy’s singles.
Jack Oliver was unable to match the success of his training partner Zoe Smith in the 69kg category of the weightlifting, finishing in fifth position, while Ben Bellamy was also disappointed to finish fifth in the -58kg wrestling competition.