Three of New Zealands heavyweight chances will compete on the eighth day of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. World junior shot put champion Jacko Gill is in action in the final of the mens shot put, helped by the three day break between his qualifying and the medal round which is part of the big finals day for athletics at the Bishan Stadium. Gill picked up a virus in the hot, wet and humid conditions in Singapore, but managed a 21.73m qualifying through before the rain brought a postponement to the final round. The New Zealander, who became the youngest person to win a world junior track and field title in Canada last month, bypassed his final throw the following day and has benefited significantly from the rest. He goes into the final after qualifying in second place behind hulking Polish athlete Krzysztof Brzozowski who set a personal best 22.50m. The boxing competition gets underway for New Zealands Joseph Parker, who earned a bye through the first round and meets Hungarys Jozsef Zsigmond in the semifinal of the super heavyweight class (over 91kgs) at the International Convention Centre. Parker, 18, from Auckland has enjoyed an outstanding 2010 to date winning the silver medal in the Commonwealth tournament in Delhi and bronze medal in the world junior championships in Azerbaijan. This has earned the Manukau carpentry student selection to next months Commonwealth Games where he is considered a potential medallist despite his young age. Back in action tomorrow is Cambridge horseman Jake Lambert in the individual show jumping first round, following the silver medal he won in the team competition. Lambert, 17, rode his Australian mount Le Lucky to two clear rounds during the team competition, although he dropped three rails in the jump-off. He said his mount had pulled up well and he is looking forward to the competition on what is expected to be a slightly more difficult test, with the final round decided on Tuesday. New Zealands sailors Elise Beavis and Jack Collinson were frustrated when no racing was possible because of a lack of wind today, meaning only six of 15 rounds have been completed. Coach Andrew Wills said that unless there is a significant change in the weather patterns after Sundays lay-day, its likely the programme will be cut. That is not what we need. Both Elise and Jack are out of the top 10 right now and need as many races as possible to get back into contention. We will see what Monday brings us but hopefully some stronger airs where both of our sailors thrive. The cyclists are back in action with Kate McDonald (Clyde) competing in the junior womens time trial while Denay Cottam (New Plymouth) and Sam Shaw (Rotorua) will contest the junior mens road race. They are one down with BMXer Trent Woodcock still hospitalised as he recovers from contusions after his crash in the BMX semifinal two days ago. The basketballers face a clash against the Central African Republic in the elimination match for 12th to 16 placings while the girlss hockey side take on unbeaten Argentina in their final pool match at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium. The winner will progress to the gold medal round and the loser to the bronze medal playoff. Several athletes are in action with Taurangas Anna-Lisa Uttley and Hamiltons Mohamed Ali in the B final of the 3000m, Wanganuis Brad Mathas in the B final of the 1000m, Hazel Bowering-Scott in the B final of the 200m and Hamiltons Matthew Holcroft in the final of the 10,000 walk. Tonight Auckland athlete Joshua Hawkins finished fifth in the B final of the 100m hurdles. Auckland 15-year-old Kevin Wu showed plenty of fight in the opening day of singles in table tennis at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. He lost his opening match 3-1 but bounced back to win his second by the same score but lost his final match 3-0. However Wu again fought hard in his second stage elimination contest to come from 2-1 down to beat Warren Li Kam Na in five games 6-11 11-4 4-11 11-4 11-7. Team-mate Julia Wu, also 15 from Auckland but no relation, had a tougher day losing all four of her matches. The pair have two further rounds of second stage competition tomorrow.
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