Dublin Badminton athlete, Nhat Nguyen has qualified for the quarter finals of the men’s singles while Mona McSharry and Niamh Coyne progress to the semis of the women’s 100m breaststroke.
Badminton:
Nhat Nguyen has defeated Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga (El Salvador) 2-0 to move into the quarter finals in the men’s singles at the Youth Olympic Games. Nguyen dominated from the start, winning the first game 21-4 and the second game 21-11. He will now face the China number one seed Shifeng Li.
Nhat commented; “I felt really comfortable on court, my technical shots were working really well today. I’m through to the quarters now, so I’m happy with my performance today. I’ll get some rest now and prepare for tomorrow.”
Nguyen’s strengths on the court are power and technique – “it’s good to have power and technique, but there’s also the ability of knowing how to use it. Recently I’ve been learning how to use it, so it’s good it’s working so well. I play the Chinese number one next, that will be a very tough game. I have never played him before so I’m looking forward to that.”
At the Youth Olympic Games there is a culture and education focus, and one of the areas where this is exercised is in mixed nation team events. As well as his Team Ireland competition Nguyen also plays with other nations in a team relay in the evenings, and he is enjoying this experience – “that’s the nice thing to meet new poeple and make new friends in the team event. It’s a good thing to play the mixed team events.”
Swimming:
All three swimmers were in the pool this morning, with Robbie Powell making his Youth Olympic debut in the 50 freestyle, and Mona McSharry and Niamh Coyne competing in the 100 breaststroke heats. McSharry and Coyne both progressed to the semi-finals of their events, with McSharry winning heat 6 in a time of 1.09.24, placing her second overall and Coyne placing second in heat 5 with 1.09.49, placing her fourth overall. Both will now compete in the semi-finals later this evening.
There was disappointment for Powell, finishing 8th in his heat with a time of 23.7, outside his personal best time of 23.26. Tomorrow Powell will be competing in the 100 freestyle and 50 butterfly.
This evening will see Galway’s David Kitt and Dublin’s Lauren Crowley Walsh take to the green for the men’s and women’s golf individuals respectively while Emma Slevin will take to the floor for the women’s uneven bars.
Team Ireland in Buenos Aires comprises of a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports. The team of 5 male athletes and 11 female athletes includes Nhat Nguyen (Badminton) and Mona McSharry (Swimming), recipients of Olympic Solidarity Scholarships which were awarded to assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
This is the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games which are hosted every four years. The Games, running from October 6 to October 18 will feature more than 4,000 talented junior athletes aged 15 to 18 from 200 countries in over 32 sports.
