If these first Youth Olympic Games are as much about learning about what makes a champion, then Rotorua mountain biker Sam Shaw earned a gold medal on day three in Singapore. Shaw (Rotorua) was in a handy 11th place going into the final lap of the crosscountry race before his pedal sheared off. An attempt to fix the problem proved fruitless before Shaw grabbed his bike and ran the final 3.1km lap, finishing 23rd to the cheers of the large crowd. Equally courageous was the womens hockey team after digging deep to dispose of Ireland 3-2 in tough conditions to remain unbeaten going into a rest day. Earlier New Zealands young basketballers got their campaign back on track with a strong victory in the second round games. The kiwi combination beat Puerto Rico 30-26 in an excellent performance, with the side in control throughout in the three-on-three format match at the Scape Youth Centre. They now face the daunting prospect of Serbia who are rated joint favourites with USA, and they disposed of Greece easily today. In swimming Chloe Francis (North Shore) was eighth in her semifinal of the 100m breaststroke in 1:13.03, faster than her qualifying time in the morning. It was a frustrating day for the New Zealand rowers who will compete in the B final after missing out in the semifinals. Southlands Hayden Cohen was fourth in his semifinal and the Canterbury pair of Beatrix Heaphy-Hall and Eve McFarlane was fifth in their semifinal. It was an improbable task for the young kiwi rowers who medalled at the world championships in Europe just a week ago but had to cope with a rushed trip, moving into different boats that they had not trained in and racing in shorter formats at the Youth Olympics. Their coach Gary Roberts said international rowing is looking to potentially move back to more traditional formats and their scheduling for the future. Track competition began with Anna-Lise Uttley (Tauranga) 11th in her heat of the 3000m in 10:07.69, Hamiltons Mohamed Ali 18th over the same distance in 9:07.60 and Aucklands Josh Hawkins fifth in his heat of the 100m hurdles in 14.46s. Auckland weightlifter Josh Milne managed a new national age record of 91kgs in the snatch on the way to finishing ninth in the 69kg class in weightlifting. He could not better previous best in the clean and jerk but finished with a solid 201kg total after being in the sport less than two years. Shaw was enjoying a strong race in the mountain bike crosscountry competition at Tampines Bike Park until his pedal sheared. I was only three minutes behind the leader at that stage which was quite good, Shaw said. After mechanics could not replace his pedal he picked up the bike and ran the final 3.1km lap, free-wheeling on some of the downhill with one foot on his pedal. It was a very gutsy thing to do, said coach John Lee. He could have just jacked it in. Theres not many cyclists who could run that far, he joked. But it shows his spirit and that he did not want to let down the team and his country. Shaw has a background in triathlon and will be competing in the Xterra off-road championships later in the year. Earlier team-mate Sarah-Kate McDonald was 14th in the womens race, with the combined team competition moving to the 3km road time trial tomorrow where New Plymouths Denay Cottom will compete. The hockey side found it difficult to back up after their outstanding 3-2 victory over Korea, forced to come from behind yet again to edge out Ireland by the same score. They had to cope with heavy rain and humid conditions at the Sengkang Hockey Stadium and a second game in two days, finally overcoming a spirited Irish side when Elley Miller converted from a penalty corner. The All Blacks would say that we won ugly, coach Greg Nicol said. While we started really well, we didnt take full advantage of the dominance and it was a real struggle from then on. That said, to win when you dont play well is a sign of the spirit in this side. These conditions are very, very demanding so the girls found it tough backing up. We are unbeaten which is a great way to be and now we can rest up and come ready to attack on Thursday. Tomorrow is a busy day of competition with New Zealand athletes involved in equestrian, swimming, cycling, rowing, basketball, sailing and athletics including qualifying for world junior champion Jackson Gill in the shot put. Results, day 3: Hockey, round 2: New Zealand 3 (Rhiannon Dennison 7, 64; Elley Miller 69) Ireland 2. Halftime 1-1. Sailing, Byte CII, boys race 1: Goncalo Pires (POR) 1, Just van Aanholt (AHO) 2, Marco Benini (ITA) 3. Jack Collinson 17. Race 2: Van Aanholt 1, Owen Siese (BER) 2, Kaarle Tapper (FIN) 3, Collinson 4. Points after two races: Van Aanholt 3, 1; Pires 9, 2; Tapper 12, 3. Collinson 21, equal 8. Girls, race 1: Constanze Stolz (GER) 1, Daphne van der Vaart (NED) 2, Alexandra Rayroux (SUI) 3. Also: Elize Beavis (NZL) 12. Race 2: Lara Vadlau (AUT) 1, Stolz 2, Rayrouz 3. Also: Beavis 10. Points after two races: Stolz 3, 1; Rayroux 6, 2; Vadlau and Van der Vaart 7, equal 4. Beavis 22, equal 9. Basketball, round 2: New Zealand 30 (James Ashby 12, Michael karena 8, Reuben Te Rangi 7, Ben Fraser 3) Puerto Rico 26. Half time: 12-10. Cycling, mountain bike crosscountry, boys (21.7km): Jhonnatan Botero (COL) 58:42, 1; Andrea Righettini (ITA) 59:29, 2; Larens Sweeck (BEL) 1:00.21, 3. Also: Sam Shaw (NZL) 1:08.28, 23. Girls, 15.5km: Karoline Kalasova (CZE) 46.58, 1; Linda Indergand (SUI) 47:06, 2; Kristina Laforge (CAN) 49:22, 3. Also: Sarah Kate McDonald (NZL) 55:30, 14. Athletics, girls 3000m heats: Anna-Lisa Uttley 10:07.69, 11th. Boys 3000m heats: Mohamed Ali (NZL) 9:07.60, 17th. Boys 110m hurdles: Josh Hawkins (NZL) 14.46, 5th. Swimming, girls 100m breaststroke: Chloe Francis (NZL) 1:13.38, 15th (qualified for semifinal) Semifinal: Rachel Nicol (CAN) 1:09.22, 1; Marla Michalaka (GRE) 1:10.55, 2; Maya Hamano (JPN) 1:10.91, 3. Also: Francis (NZL) 1:13.03, 8. 200m backstroke heats: Renee Stothard 2:20.14, 18th fastest. Rowing, semifinals: Womens pair: Italy 3:37.29, 1; Romania 3:40.67, 2; Great Britain 3:41.03, 3. Also New Zealand (Beatrix Heaphy-Hall, Eve McFarlane) 3:41.92, 5. Mens single: Rolandas Mascinskas (LTU) 3:25.71, 1; Yueqi Zeng (CHN) 3:27.38, 2; Tiago Braga (BRA) 3:30.52, 3. Also: Hayden Cohen (NZL) 3:35.38, 4. Weightlifting, mens 69kg: Nijat Rahimov (AZE) 295 (134 snatch, 161 clean and jerk), 1; Xingbin Gong (CHN) 293 (133, 160) 2; Ediel Marquez (CUB) 283 (129, 154) 3. Also: Joshua Milne (NZL) 201 (91, 110) 9.
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