Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG)


Singapore's three medals

First medal - Bronze
Taekwondo Boys-55kg
Won by : Daryl Tan, 17

Singapore's Daryl Tan (right) swinging a kick at Myanmar's Shein Naing Dwe Shein during the boys' taekwondo quarter-final on YOG Day 2 (16Aug)

Daryl Tan created Singapore sporting history by becoming the Republic's first medal-winner at the YOG.
In the quarter-finals, he defeated his Myanmar's opponent, Shein Naing Dwe Shein, with a score of 6-5.
As there are no play-offs for the bronze medal, it means that all losing semi-finalists will be assured of the bronze medal.

'Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself winning a medal - let alone being Singapore's first medallist,' said the teenager who received a bye to go straight into the last eight.

Second medal - Bronze
Taekwondo Girls-55kg

Won by : Nurul Shafinas, 17

Singapore's Shafinas (right) landing 1 of the 3 kicks-to-the-head to Kaburee Ioane, her Kiribatian opponent.

She made a clean sweep in the quarterfinals, scoring 9-0 in the opening round against Ioane Kaburee (KIR), scoring all the points through kicks to the head.
The referee stopped the bout with 59 seconds remaining in round one, after Shafinas landed three straight kicks to her opponent’s head for a 9-0 lead.

Shafina's participation itself at the YOG is a remarkable feat, considering that she was a netball player with the Singapore Sports School for four years. She trained sporadically in Taekwondo during her time at the Sports School and even gave up the sport a year in 2008 to concentrate on her studies.
But it is apparent that she has a talent for the martial art. Two months after rejoining the Singapore Taekwondo Federation last November, she went on to win gold at the Singapore Elite Youth Championships in January. She then landed a silver at the Asian Cities Gold Cup in Hong Kong a month later.

Singapore's Nurul Shafinas (right) aiming a high kick at the head of Vietnam's Nguyen Thanh Thao during her narrow defeat in the 55kg class semi-final last night

In the semifinals, she was narrowly beaten by Nguyen Thanh Thao (VIE) 9-8. The Vietnamese fighter lost to Jade Jones (GBR) on sudden death in the final.

The 18-year-old finished second in the Boys' 50m backstroke final at the Singapore Sports School this evening in 26.45sec, just 0.09sec slower than winner Christian Homer of Trinidad and Tobago (26.36sec)

Rainer Ng, 18, clocked a time of 26.45sec at the Singapore Sports School, a mere 0.09sec behind winner Christian Homer of Trinidad and Tobago (26.36sec).
Interestingly, Rainer's winning time was slower than the 26.37sec that he clocked in Tuesday's semi-final, which enabled him to go into the final as the second fastest qualifier.