Prannoy, Yuki shine at Youth Olympics

SINGAPORE - Sunil Kumar Prannoy ensured India of another medal as he stormed into the boys singles badminton final while tennis sensation Yuki Bhambri moved into the semifinals on day five of the inaugural Youth Olympics here Wednesday.

Prannoy continued his impressive run in the tournament and defeated Ji Wook Kang of Korea 19-21, 21-17, 21-17 in a tough semifinal at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The Indian lost the first game but showed good temperament to win the next two.

Yuki kept the medal hopes alive with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ireland’s John Morrissey. He will now take on Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia.

India also had a good showing in archery. Seema Verma entered the quarterfinals of the women’s singles, beating Tanja Sorsa of Finland in straight sets. In the men’s singles, Atanu Das lost to Finland’s Joni Hautamaki in a thrilling finish in the

pre-quarterfinals. The match was decided on a shoot-out where the Indian scored eight points and Hautamaki nine.

In the mixed team archery event, Maud Custers of the Netherlands and Vasil Shahnazaryan beat American Miranda Leek and Das 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinal. In another mixed team match, India’s Verma and Sebastian Linster of Hungary lost to Aleksandra Wojnicka of Poland and Yagiz Yilmaz of Turkey 2-6.

In rowing, Thomas Nimmy and Mitali Sekhar and Yasin Khan and Gurpreet Singh finished fifth in women’s and men’s pair final.

The basketball team also lost to Germany 20-33 in a Group A preliminary round of boys singles.

India have so far won two medals in the event, both having come from the wrestlers.

Satywart Kadian bagged the bronze in the men’s freestyle 100kg event Wednesday after Pooja Dhanda opened India’s medal count with a silver in women’s freestyle 60kg wrestling event Monday.