Pooja wins silver; mixed day for India at Youth Olympics

Singapore: Woman wrestler Pooja Dhanda on Monday won the first medal for India at the Youth Olympic Games and shuttlers Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy also kept themselves in contention after the second day of the inaugural event here. After beating three opponents without conceding a point, Pooja lost 1-3 to Baatarzorig Battsetseg of Mongolia in the final to settle for silver medal in the 60kg freestyle category. The Indian beat American Burkert Jenna Rose (3-0), local player Puteri Erna Natasha (4-0) and Ahmed Dzhanan of Bulgaria (3-0) in Group A en route to the final. In badminton, Sai Praneeth beat Asher Richarson of New Zealand 21-12, 21-12 before notching up identical win over Cuba Mario of Persia in the boys singles event to stand second in Pool H. After a resounding first day, HS Prannoy continued his rampaging form and thrashed Phetphanom Keophiachan of Laos 21-11, 21-12 to top pool C today. In tennis, junior Australian Open champion and sixth seed Yuki Bhambri made a wining start by beating German Kevin Krawietz 6-3, 6-0 to set up a second round clash with Huang Llang-Chi. However, he and his Filipino partner Patrombon Jeson were shown the door in the boys doubles event as they lost the first round 7-6 (3), 5-7 4-10 to Dzumhur Damir and Pavic Mate at the Kallang Tennis center court here. In the swimming discipline, D Souza Aaron Agnel finished third in men`s 200m freestyle event by clocking 1:53:35 at the sport school. Magavi Arhatha clocked 1:05:18 to finish fifth in the women`s 100m freestyle while in the 200m butterfly she finished seventh with a timing of 2:32:91. In Basketball, India went down to Serbia 19-33 in the preliminary group A match of the boys event. PTI