Parker wins silver in Youth Olympics boxing

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Teenage boxing star Joseph Parker brought the curtain down on New Zealand's campaign at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games with a silver medal in the super heavyweight class in Singapore tonight.

The 18 year old from Manukau City was out-pointed by tall counter-punching Frenchman Tony Yoka in the gold medal match, with the young kiwi unable to catch up with his opponent after falling behind narrowly in the count.

Just down the hallway at the International Convention Centre, Kaikoura judoka Hayley Baxter also claimed a silver medal, part of a Belgrade team that was beaten in the final.

She joined in with fighters from Russia, Turkmenistan, Germany and Malta in a United Nations team that had a draw and a win to earn a place in the gold medal match where they had to be content with silver, losing out to Team Essen 6-1.

"It was a lot of fun and I am pretty stocked," Baxter said. "Most of them spoke English and it was a cool experience.

"I fought a lot better than in my individual bouts. I just relaxed far more and went out to have fun. It worked and I fought quite well tonight."

New Zealand finished with seven medals from one gold, five silvers and one bronze.

It proved an outstanding battle between the world's No 2 and No 3 ranked junior boxers with Parker earning his third medal of the year, following a silver in the Commonwealth event and bronze at the junior worlds. But Parker had a special reason to chase a medal of a different colour tonight.

"It's my father's birthday today and I really wanted to bring a gold home for him," Parker said.

"It didn't quite go the way we wanted but I will train harder and hopefully do better next time. He's a bit slick and moves around heaps and I couldn't really land the punches I wanted to land. He's a good fighter and I enjoyed the fight.

"I went forward and he just countered off my punches. I've got heaps to learn from this that will help with my next fight. "

That is part of the issue for the talent kiwi who fought in just his 21st bout as an amateur tonight against opponents with more than 100 fights to their credit.

"He's still a baby. He tried to stick to the plan and he will get better," said coach Grant Arkell. "He's picked up three medals in six months now so I am happy. I don't think he was too good for Joseph but with a bit more experience we will see.

"He didn't throw all the punches we wanted to throw and he got tied up quite a bit. He will learn a lot from this to take to Delhi."

The scores were level 1-1 after the first round with the Frenchman taking a 4-1 lead after the second. Parker brought it back to 4-3 before Yoka regrouped for the final 8-5 points score line.

Earlier Southland shooter Jenna McKenzie went agonisingly close to qualifying for the final in the 10m air rifle competition at the Singapore Sports School.

McKenzie shot 388 from a possible 400 to finish 11th, just three points from qualifying for the final. This was close to her personal best in competition and she was unlucky with a number of shots.

"Jenna had four or five 9s that were so-so close to 10s that would have made all the difference," Sheely said. "She started well with eight straight bulls before dropping to three nines in a row. I called her out for a break and then she settled down really well again.

"This is a world class competition with world class competitors. So it was a really solid performance."

Germany's Yvonne Scholterbeck led the way with 399.

"That was brilliant, just one shot away from a perfect score although the competition was so good that she only finished fourth in the final."

Sheely said international competition is the key for New Zealand shooters.

"Jenny has the potential to be a world class shooter. This sort of international exposure is invaluable. The Europeans have such an advantage but we just have to travel to get this sort of competition and experience."

Auckland sailors Elise Beavis and Jack Collinson finished mid-pack in 11th and 15th placings respectively overall after the medal race today off the Singapore national sailing centre in the Byte II class.

The team enjoy the closing ceremony tomorrow (Thursday) and a day off before flying home on Saturday evening (NZ time)

Results, day 11:

Boxing, superheavyweight, gold medal match: Joseph Parker (NZL) lost to Tony Yoka (FRA) 8-5 on points.

Junior women 10m air rifle qualifying: Yvonne Schloterbeck (GER) 399-32, 1; Dowon Go (KOR) and Gabriela Vognarova (CZE) 397-32, equal 2. Also Jenna McKenzie (NZL) 388-25, 13.

Table tennis, teams stage 2: New Zealand 1 India 2 (Julia Wu lost to Mallika Bhandarkar (IND) 4-11 9-11 8-11, Kevin Wu bt Avik Das 10-12, 11-7 11-3 5-11 11-8, Wu-Wu lost to Bhandarkar-Das 3-11 11-3 4-11 8-11).

Team judo competition: Belgrade (including Hayley Baxter, NZL) 4 Osaka 4, Belgrade 5 Tokyo 3. Gold medal match: Belgrade 1 Essen 6.

Sailing, Byte II, junior girls, race 11: Sarah Douglas (CAN) 1, Daphne van der Vaart (NED) 2, Natasha Yokoyama (SIN) 3. Also: Elise Beavis (NZL) 11. Final points: Lara Vadlau (AUT) 27 points, 1; Van der Vaart 41, 2; Constance Stolz (GER) 57, 3. Also: Beavis 103, 11.

Junior boys race 11: Just van Aanholt (AHO) 1, San Selko (SLO) 2, Ian Barrows (ISV) 3. Also: Jack Collinson (NZL) 24. Final points: Barrows (ISV) 44, 1; Florian Haufe (GER) 60, 2; Van Aanholt 62, 3. Also: Collinson 124, 15.

- © Fairfax NZ News