“I was trying not to give these guys an inch because they’ll take a mile,” said Barclay. “They’re unknown to me so I had to be aggressive, and they didn’t know me so they didn’t chase.”
Barclay was fourth in the swim leg, then took the lead in the cycle leg, after which he went on to finish 14 seconds ahead of the triathlon favourite Kevin McDowell from the US, who claimed the silver medal.
Meanwhile, the hosts won their first medal courtesy Daryl Tan who is guaranteed at least a bronze in the Boys 55-kilogramme taekwondo competition after winning his quarter-final match. Daryl defeated Myanmar’s Shein Naing Dwe Shein 6-5 to reach the semi-finals.
Thailand also won their first medal through Kuo Hsing-chun who won silver in the women’s 53-kilogramme weightlifting discipline, while Bulgarian lifter Kostova Boyanka won gold.
The opening day
China claimed three gold medals, finishing top of the rankings. Tian Yuan set two youth world records en route to winning her country’s first gold, in the girls’ 48-kilogramme weightlifting category. The other two medals were claimed in the swimming discipline - Dai Jun won the men’s 400-metre freestyle and Sun Bowei, Tang Yi, Liu Lan and He Jianbin won the mixed relay race.
The hosts however had a disappointing opening day as their swimmer Rainer Ng missed out on a place in the boys’ 100-metre backstroke final by 0.03-seconds.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2010.
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