World champion Jackson Gill battled through thunder, lightning, rain and a virus to qualify for the finals of the shot put on the fourth day of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore today. The shot put competition was eventually postponed with one round of qualifying remaining but with Gill comfortably in second place, he will bypass his final round which has been rescheduled for tomorrow. The rowers finished on a high note with world junior fours champions Eve McFarlane and Beatrix Heaphy-Hall winning the B Final in the pair at the Marina Reservoir course today, while team-mate Hayden Cohen was in the single sculls B final. Cohen, trailling by more than a second at the 500m mark, came storming home to be pipped for the win by just 4/100ths of a second behind Hungarys Mark Biro. Heaphy-Hall and McFarlane trailled Bulgaria at the halfway point but moved into overdrive to win in 3:38.69, nearly four seconds clear. North Shore swimmer Chloe Francis is through to another final tonight, qualifying seventh fastest in heats of the 200m freestyle after a solid 2:03.92 in her morning swim. She was fifth in her heat and is confident of going much quicker tonight and hopefully under the age group national record of 2:0236 held by Delhi-bound Lauren Boyle. Equestrian Jake Lambert (Cambridge) went clear in a perfect start to his competition today, helping the Australasian team to a share of first place after the first round of jumping at the Singapore Turf Club. His Australian teammate also went clear with the Oman rider recording four faults to give them a share of the lead with Africa and Europe. New Plymouths Denay Cottam was 12th in the 3.1km cycling time trial at Tampines Bike Park today in 4:12.12, 15 seconds behind the fastest rider, Rafael Ferreira (POR). Halfway through the competition New Zealand is currently 21st on 134 points with Italy leading on 38. New Zealand joined all before them in falling to the powerful Serbia 30-13 in mens basketball today. The unbeaten Serbs put on enormous defensive pressure on the kiwis who managed just 16 percent shooting from the floor although they were not helped by making only four of 12 from the free throw line. New Zealand is in a share of third place with Puerto Rico and are now unlikely to make the top two for the playoffs. There were frustrations at the National Sailing Centre with the heavy rain and no winds forcing a delay in the yachting competition. The track competition got through largely unscathed by the rain until the end of the field event qualifying. The New Zealanders will all compete in the B finals on the track with Hamiltons Jenna Hansen 15th in the 2000m steeplechase in 8:11.91, Wanganuis Brad Mathias 10th in the 1000m in 2:44.64 and Wellingtons Yarride Rosario fourth in his heat of the 100m in 11.46s. Gill has struggled with a virus in recent days but is now thankful with the unusual format that sees a four day break until the finals. He managed three throws over the 20m mark, achieved by only three other throwers, with a best of 21.73m. The hulking Polish athlete Krzysztof Brzozowski leads on 22.50m with the final round of qualifying to be completed in the morning. I would have liked to have thrown further but its good to get through today. I would have liked to have thrown at least 22m today, Gill said. Training has been good but the health has not been great here in recent days. Its great to have a break now because it gives me a chance to recover. Usually we would compete in the final on the same day so its a bit weird here but I will take it right now. I would like to throw over 23m here in the final. Ive been throwing that in training so if I can get the health right that would be the target.
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