Buenos Aires, October 16:  India's Suraj Panwar clinched a silver in men's 5000m race walk event in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games to open the country's medal account in athletics here. Panwar won the stage 2 competition by clocking 20 minutes and 35.87 seconds on Monday night but finished second overall. Youth Olympic Games 2018: Indian U-18 Men’s and Women’s Hockey Team Secure Silver Medals.

In a new format, there are no finals in track and field (with the exception of 4km cross-country) in the Youth Olympics and each event is held twice, with results from both rounds counting towards the final standings. The 17-year-old Panwar had finished second in the first stage in 20.23.30s, behind Patin Oscar of Equador. Oscar, who finished second in Stage 2, won the gold with timings of 20:13.69s and 20:38.17s.

Panwar's total time of 40:59.17s was over seven minutes slower than Oscar's 40:51.86s. Puerto Rico's Jan Moreu finished third to claim the bronze. This is India's first athletics medal in this edition and third overall. Arjun (men's discus throw) and Durgesh Kumar (men's 400m hurdles) had won a silver each in the inaugural edition in 2010. Youth Olympic Games 2018 Medal Tally and Standings: Lakshya Sen Wins Silver Medal, India on 7th Position With 3 Gold, and 5 Silver Medals at 2018 Buenos Aires Summer YOG!

"It's a great feeling. I am very happy to have won a medal. I had put in a lot of hard work for the Games. It is my first medal for India," Panwar said after winning the silver medal. "My next target is to better my performance here and win a medal in the senior level also," he added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)