It was a strong first day's showing for our kiwi athletes at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, with 100m backstroke swimmer Bobbi Gichard earning a spot in the final, men's hockey winning 8-2 in the pool game against Zambia and the beach volleyball duo taking down Congo.
Triathlete Elizabeth Stannard opened up competition for the Kiwi athletes this morning in the womens sprint Triathlon. The 17-year-old came into transition one in the second group of seven after the swim. The 20km bike leg saw Stannard pull her way up to the front of the chase pack, but a tangle in transition two slowed her down by six seconds and exit t-2 in 12th place. Stannard refocused and finished the race in 13th out of the field of 32. Daniel Hoy will be racing in the mens triathlon at 1pm tomorrow (NZ)
It was a close game for the Beach Volleyball duo of Nathaniel Moore and Kahurangi Robinson in the preliminary rounds today. The two took the first set against Congo 21-8, playing a strong offensive. But the second set was evenly matched, with it coming down to a battle for match point between the two teams. A double block from Moore, followed by a spike from Robinson meant the team took the win in the second set, 22-20. The team will play again tomorrow in the second round of the preliminary pool B at 11pm (NZ)
Sophia Dong played a tough match against Belgian Lisa Lung in the Table Tennis women's singles first stage today. Lung took the match 3-1 against the 442nd ranked Dong. Both played a nervous game initially, according to coach Tim Seaholme, due to the close proximity of the crowd in the table tennis venue. But the two settled in and Dong posed a challenge to Lung in the 3rd game, winning 11-7. Dong will play again tomorrow at 2:30pm (NZ).
The Rowing team, having just completed a gruelling world junior rowing campaign, opened up competition today. Jackie Gowler and Renee Olley coming in 4th in heat one of the junior womens pair. Jack OLeary, who took bronze in the quads at the World Junior Championships, came fourth in heat four of the mens single sculls. OLeary will move on to the repechage two in a bid for the semi-final tomorrow at 2:50pm (NZ).
Bobbi Gichard and Gabrielle Faamausili made strong starts in the pool today. The 14-year-old swimmers both qualified for the evenings semifinals in the 100m backstroke from their morning heats in Nanjing. Gichard, from the Greendale club in Hawkes Bay, was second in her heat and seventh fastest overall in 1:02.39 while Faamausili, from the Roskill club in Auckland, was fifth in her heat and eighth overall in 1:02.41. Gichard then proceeded to finish third fastest in the semifinals of the 100m backstroke in Nanjing tonight, while her teammate Faamausili was 11th fastest and missed out on the A Final. North Shores Jacob Garrod was slightly outside his best clocking 1:05.30 in heats of the 100m breaststroke, and missed out on the semifinals, with his specialist 200m breaststroke event to come later in the week. Fellow Auckland swimmer Michael Mincham, from the Waterhole club, was just one spot outside automatically qualifying for the B Final in the 400m freestyle. Mincham clocked 3:57.33 to be 17th fastest overall, half a second outside his personal best.
The mens Hockey team played Zambia in pool b today, winning the 5-a-side match 8-2. It was a strong showing from our kiwi boys, taking each third on points and playing. The Zambians negated a few of the NZ teams strengths, according to assistant coach Lincoln Churchill, but the team improved as the game went on. The team will play Mexico today, continuing pool play.