Paddler Archana misses bronze
BUENOS AIRES: India endured a medal-less outing at the Youth Olympics after the gold rush of the previous three days as rising table tennis player Archana Kamath went down in the bronze medal match here.
Kamath, who became the first Indian paddler to enter the semifinals of Youth Olympics, gave her all against Romania’s Andreea Dragoman before losing 11-8, 11-13, 9-11, 5-11, 9-11 in the semifinal played on Wednesday night (wee hours of Thursday in India).
Meanwhile, the Indian under-18 women’s hockey team suffered its first loss of the Youth Olympics’ five-a-side competition, going down 2-5 to hosts Argentina.
Earlier, after three successive wins, India lost the toughest match they played in the event. The Indian team will face South Africa in its fifth match of the competition.
A little later in the day, the men’s hockey team too did not get the result it wanted, losing 3-4 to Australia in a keenly contested contest.
Davis Miles, James Collins, Alistair Murray, Bradely Marais scored for Australia while India struck through Vivek Sagar Prasad, who found the net twice, and Shivam Anand. On Thursday morning, swimmer Advait Page disappointed in Heat 3, finishing seventh.
The medal-less day for India came after it won three historic gold medals in as many days. Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won shooting gold medals after weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga gave India its first ever gold in Youth Olympics. India has also won three silver medals in the competition. Another medal could be assured if rising badminton star Lakshya Sen wins his semifinal against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka later on Thursday.
BOXER CARRIES HOST ARGENTINA’S HOPES
Brian Arregui has made his way through life with his fists. Now 18, he’s punched his way into contention for a gold medal as Argentina hosts the Youth Olympics this week.
He began boxing at age nine to cope with the loss and fury he felt when his father died. He became a father himself at 17. Now 18, he captains the “Pitbulls” — Argentina’s junior boxing team.
“I grew up with blows,” he says with a mischiveous grin. “My life is a fight.”
But there’s no hiding the blow of losing his father. Father Raul’s image is tatooed on his chest. His cousins introduced him to boxing when Raul died. He was eight years old. “I had to blow off sadness and anger.”
The youngest of four brothers, family is sacred to him. His father-in-law is his trainer. Now with a family of his own — a 14 month-old daughter Briana, and a four-year old from his partner’s previous relationship — he’s ready to take his career forward. “I’m someone who goes right at it. I give as good as I get. I’m not a stylist,” he says. Norman Mailer, the US writer, once said that the greatest fighter of them all, Muhammad Ali, became a boxer to take revenge on the kid who stole his bicycle at age 12.
Brian says he was “an angel” at school and the first time he ever fought was “in the ring.”
Responsibility for a young family is a lot to carry for an 18-year-old who earns less than $300 a month, half of which he sends to Villaguay, far to the north of Buenos Aires. It goes to pay the labour on a house he’s building a few blocks from his mother.