Reuters/Nanjing
Swedish golfers Marcus Kinhult and Linnea Strom prevailed in a playoff to take the mixed team Youth Olympic gold medal yesterday, with their accuracy on the greens only bettered by South Korean archer Lee Woo-seok.
The bespectacled 17-year-old archer amassed a huge 704 out of 720 in the ranking round of the men’s competition on Friday and the bullseyes continued to flow yesterday as he beat Brazilian Marcus Carvalho Lopes D’Almeida 7-3.
Lee fired 13 out of 15 10s in the final, including four perfect sets, as he clearly enjoyed shooting from 60 metres for the first time instead of the 70m the seniors normally take aim from.
D’Almeida was full of praise for the victor, who he called amazing, but was hopeful he could translate his silver medal success to his home Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Lee, meanwhile, was just grateful to give his callous-filled hands a breather after his stunning feats in China.
“These fingers show. There is a lot of pain,” the Korean said. “It’s due to my training. Before the YOG I had domestic competitions, so I prepared for that. Korean domestic competition is world-class. It is very stressful.”
The success for the Koreans made up for the disappointment in the mixed golf where Kinhult and Strom edged Lee So-young and Youm Eun-ho in the playoff to take gold at the Zhongshan International Golf Club.
Lee, who won the girl’s individual gold last week, had forced the extra holes after a birdie on the 18th left the two teams tied at 16-under following three rounds of competition, with both players score counting on the final day’s play.
But the birdies dried up in the playoff and the Swede’s par-par effort on the second extra hole proved too much for the par-bogey of the Koreans allowing Kinhult to add gold to the silver he won in the boy’s individual event.
Boxers Chang Yuan and Jajaira Gonzalez made sure their gold medal bouts were nowhere near as close as the golf final with some brilliant displays as they easily won women’s titles.
Chinese Chang was a class above Italian Irma Testa as she won the 51 kilogramme title 3-0, while American Gonzalez chopped through Ireland’s Ciara Ginty by the same score in the 60kg category.
“It is really an American dream come true. All my hard work paid off today,” the 17-year-old Californian said. “I just got under my opponent to open her up to attack as she was taller.”
Elsewhere, North Korean wrestler Kim Son-hyang beat Mongolia’s Dulguun Bolormaar to take gold in the 46 kg category, while China’s Yang Hao easily secured gold in the men’s 10m diving competition.
Today is the final full day of competition at the second Youth Games, featuring over 3,800 athletes aged 14-18 from almost 200 countries, with gold medals up for grabs in boxing, gymnastics, wrestling, canoeing and beach volleyball.
