by Elton Gomes
India continued its medal run at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires after Suraj Panwar and Praveen Chitravel added a silver and a bronze, respectively.
Chitravel medal was India’s 12th and first bronze at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Chitravel claimed India’s second athletics medal after Panwar had clocked times of 20.35.87 and 20.23.30 in the two stages of the 5000m race walk to finish in second place behind Ecuador’s Oscar Patin on Monday.
India stands at 14th position in the medal tally, and have won three gold medals, eight silver, and 1 bronze medal.
18-year-old Suraj Panwar clinches silver
Suraj Panwar won India’s first medal in athletics at the third Youth Olympic Games to add to India’s medal count. Panwar’s timings of 20.35.87 and 20.23.30 in the two stages of the 5,000m race walk saw him clinch silver behind Ecuador’s Oscar Patin.
Panwar finished second in the first stage and crossed the line in the same position in the second stage as well. However, Xin Wang was disqualified for a lane infringement, which bumped Panwar to second place. Despite topping the second stage, his overall time of 40:59.17 was only seven minutes slower than Patin’s 40:51.86.
Silver touch to his first major win for #TeamIndia!
Suraj Panwar delivered his best performance at the @youtholympics #BuenosAires2018! He clocked superb timings of 20.35.87 and 20.23.30, finishing 2nd in the Men’s 5000m Race Walk event. #Bravo Suraj! 🥈🏃👏#IAmTeamIndia 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/2aNZYKxM4U
— Team India (@ioaindia) October 16, 2018
Panwar is said to have been brought up in the absence of his father. Panwar knew of his father only through his mother’s stories. A few months after Panwar was born, his father Udai Singh Panwar and two other forest guards were murdered by the forest mafia near Dehradun.
This was why Panwar dedicated his podium finish to his father. “I was less than six months old when my father was killed along with two other forest guards in the Mohand area in the Asarodi Range in Dehradun. He did not even get a chance to see me walking for the first time and, if he would have been alive, this medal would have been the happiest moment in his life,” Panwar told the Indian Express. “I wanted to win a medal for India and this medal is the biggest gift for my family too.”
Praveen Chitravel clinches bronze in triple jump
On Tuesday, Praveen Chitravel won the bronze medal in triple jump at the Youth Olympic Games. The 17-year-old athlete recorded his best jump of 15.68 on his fourth and the final attempt in stage two of the event. Chitravel managed to finish with a combined total of 31.52m.
Praveen Chitravel clinched a bronze in men’s triple jump to give India its second athletics medal in the ongoing #YouthOlympics. #youtholympicgames pic.twitter.com/7UGWbLNDqc
— All India Radio Sports (@akashvanisports) October 17, 2018
Chitravel finished in third place behind Cuba’s Alejandro Diaz (17.14m and 17.04) and Nigeria’s Emmeanuel Oritsemeyiwa (16.34m and 15.51 m) to win the bronze medal.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius
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