Aussie rowers take silver at Youth Oly

Australian rowers Emma Basher and Olympia Aldersey battled through rough weather and
a kidney infection, to take silver in the coxless pairs at the Youth Olympics in
Singapore on Wednesday.
The women's pairing of Basher and Aldersey claimed Australia's fifth silver medal of
the Games, finishing in three minutes and 29.34 seconds - a second behind gold
medallists Great Britain and ahead of the third-placed Greek duo.
"We're stoked!," said 18-year-old, Aldersey.
"When we crossed the line, we thought we'd won bronze, then when we found out it was
silver we were ecstatic."
A pre-existing kidney infection, to South Australian Basher, flared up overnight but
following an early morning consultation with medical staff the pair were given the
green light to compete.
In the men's coxless pairs, the Western Australian duo of Matthew Cochran and David
Watts secured the bronze in 3:07.52.
Gold was won by Slovenia in 3:05.65, pushing qualifying favourites Greece into
second place.
Clear sunny weather quickly gave way to heavy rain and blustery conditions at
qualifying for the track and field events.
Victorian shot-putter Damien Birkinhead was placed third, as heavy rain halted
proceedings. The 17 year-old managed a throw of 20.89m, just short of his personal
best of 21.28m.
Final qualifying throws were postponed until Thursday.
In the javelin, Sydney's Elliot Lang only just missed out on qualification despite
improving on his personal best by 1.36 metres.
Finishing in ninth, Lang threw 68.83m, missing the final by 23 centimetres.
Australian athletes on the track struggled as both Rick Whitehead (1000m) and Grant
Gwynne (steeplechase) failed to progress to the A finals of their events.
Whitehead did at least manage a personal best of 2:27.81, to finish seventh, while
Gwynne placed 11th, almost 20 seconds off his best.
In weightlifting, Liam Larkins also managed a personal best, a combined total of
212kg, to take eighth at Toa Payoh Sports Hall.
Australia's three-on-three women's basketball team bounced back from their previous
day's loss to Japan to record a victory over previously undefeated Italy, 29-15 at
Singapore's Scape Youth Space.
"I think we learned from yesterday's loss and that obviously made us better today,"
said team member Rosie Fadljevic.
Late on Tuesday night Australia's male hockey team got off to an emphatic start as
they humbled host nation Singapore 8-1.



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