The year 2018 is full of major multi-sport events. We had Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April followed by Jakarta Palembang Asian Games in August-September. In both, the events the Indian contingent made the country proud with their achievements. And now there’s another big tournament, Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) that is all set to take place from October 6 and continue until October 18 in Argentina. India is among 2016 nations ready to participate at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and boasts of quite a few medal hopes. We have the likes of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary in the shooting, Jeremy Lalrinnunga in weightlifting and Mansi Ahlawat and Simran in wrestling who have the potential to help India cement a good position in Buenos Aires Youth Olympics. Let’s take a look at some names that are favourites to earn a podium finish in the upcoming sporting event. Manu Bhaker Named India’s Flag-Bearer for Youth Olympic Games 2018 Opening Ceremony!

1. Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)

After his phenomenal gold-medal winning show at Asian Games this year, Saurabh Chaudhary’s name is one everyone’s favourites’ list to bag a medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. The 16-year-old Meerut boy has won 10m Air Pistol gold in his Asiad debut in August. His impressive performance also included breaking his own world record with a score of 245.5. Earlier in June, Saurabh had set the junior world record on the way to winning a gold medal in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany. With so many records and feats against his name, India has a lot of expectations from Saurabh at the YOG.

2. Manu Bhaker (Shooting)

Another young shooter who has had a fantastic year so far is Manu Bhaker. The 16-year-old from Jhajjar, Haryana sprung into the limelight after she became the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. She won two gold medals in the 2018 ISSF World Cup held in Guadalajara, Mexico. Manu continued her winning run at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. It was her maiden CWG appearance, and Manu Bhaker bagged the gold medal in 10m air pistol event getting better off fellow Indian Heena Sidhu who had to be content with silver. However, Manu failed to win a single medal at the Asian Games, and she would be itching to get back to winning ways at the Summer Youth Olympic Games.

3. Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Weightlifting)

India has always boasted of a good show in weightlifting with the likes of Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, Sathish Sivalingam and Punam Yadav winning medals for the country. The hunger for excelling remains the same among juniors as well. Jeremy Lalrinnunga, the 16-year-old from Mizoram is India’s best bet to bring a medal in weightlifting at Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. He has dominated youth events for the past two years, including two medals at Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship this year.

4. Mansi Ahlawat (Wrestling)

Just like weightlifters, Indian contingent always eyes their wrestlers for medals. Haryana girl Mansi Ahlawat participating in the 57kg weight category is hoping to continue Indian wrestlers’ dominance in multi-sport tournaments. This year, the national champion in the 57kg weight category has won a silver medal in Junior Asian Championships held in New Delhi. Mansi had lost to Japan’s Akei Hanai in the final via technical superiority, and this defeat hurt her quite a lot. India would be hoping to see young grappler make a strong comeback at the Summer Youth Olympics.

Apart from these four, several other athletes have strong chances of winning medals at the Youth Olympics in Argentina. Indian contingent has 49 members who will be participating in 13 sports (Archery, Athletics, Field Hockey, Badminton, Boxing, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Sports Climbing, Table Tennis, Swimming, Weightlifting and Wrestling). These are young, budding athletes in their respective sports and they have an opportunity to make a name for themselves and country proud by excelling at a stage as big as Youth Olympic Games. We wish all the participants all the very best.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 06, 2018 12:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).