Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago): India ended the Commonwealth Youth Games here on a positive note, winning a silver and two bronze medals in athletics on the final day, finishing 17th in the medal table of the eight-day event.
On the final day of the competition on Thursday, Asha Kiran Barla won silver in girls’ 800m while the bronze medals were bagged by Pooja in girls’ high jump, while Arjun finished third in boys’ javelin throw.
Earlier, swimmer Shoan Ganguly won silver in the boys’ 400m individual medley while Sasi Anupriya claimed bronze in the girls’ shot put, both medals coming on August 7 as the contingent comprising 12 boys and 12 girls finished with five medals in all.
Asha Kiran Barla finished second in the girls’ 800m in 2 minutes 04.99 seconds, ending behind England’s Phoebe Gill who set a Commonwealth Youth Games record of 2 minutes 02.30 seconds, improving on the record of 2:04.23 set by South Africa’s Caster Semenya in the Commonwealth Youth Games edition in Pune in 2008. Australia’s Fleur Cooper took the bronze medal in 2:05.86.
In the boys’ javelin throw, India’s Arjun finished third with a distance of 65.94, which he achieved in the first of his six attempts. South Africa’s Willem Schalk Jacobus Jansen (79.85m) and Tom Rutter of England, who covered a distance of 67.54m
In the girls’ high jump, India’s Pooja finished joint third with a leap of 1.75 metres along with Australia’s Izobelle Louison-Roe, Pooja crossed 1.75m in her fifth attempt while Izobelle did that in the fourth. Pooja attempted 1.78m in her sixth jump but failed to cross the bar while the Australian went for 1.81 but could not manage it.
