Sachin wins Sri Lanka’s first medal at Youth Olympics

Sri Lanka won its first medal of the 2nd Youth Olympic Games with a bronze in the badminton mixed doubles at the Nanjing Sports Institute Gymnasium on Friday.

It an energetic fight, He Bingjiao of China and Sachin Dias of Sri Lanka smashed their way to a 21-16, 21-18 win over Qin Jingjing of China and Mek Narongrit of Thailand. Both pairs were matched point-for-point towards the end of the second game but Sachin Dias smashes found their spot each time for the win.

“This is the first medal for the Sri Lankan team and I’m so happy that I did this. The opponents were tough and Narongrit was defending well so we had to attack Qin. I stayed at the back of the court because I can smash hard,” Dias said.

His partner He said, “My partner was nervous to start with but I remained calm and that helped us control the game.”