India won its first medal in athletics through Suraj Panwar at the Summer Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires in Argentina on Monday.
In the two stages of 5000m race walk, Panwar clocked times of 20.35.87 and 20.23.30 to finish behind Oscar Patin of Ecuador.
Jan Moreu of Puerto Rico finished third to settle for a bronze medal.
India’s medal tally has been increased to 11 by Panwar’s silver medal.
A total of 3 gold and 8 silvers have been in medal tally of India so far.
In the first stage of 5000m race walk, Panwar finished second.
He topped the second stage after the leader Xin Wang was disqualified for a lane infringement.
However, Suraj Panwar’s overall time of 40:59.17 was well but slower than Oscar’s 40:51.86.
After the win, Panwar told IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), “My next step is to train for the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and win a medal there as well. My message for the youth of India is to strive hard and win a medal for the country,” said Panwar after the win.
