Tough start at Youth Olympics

The national youth handball team at the Singapore Youth Olympic Games got its first taste of international competition last week.

Team administrator Siniva Marsters reports that after a test run alongside Korea – the Cooks faced off against top ranked youth handball team, France.

Marsters said that although the team prepared well, they knew it wasn’t going to be a challenging game.

France was dominant in every facet of the game and despite the huge difference in playing standards, the local lads kept their heads up right through the bruising encounter.

France was outright winners of the game scoring 58 points to the Cook Islands 4.

The team will now face Korea in their second match today.

Meanwhile sailors Teau McKenzie and Aquila Tatira continue to make improvements on the water and have completed 6 races each with race 7, 8 and 9 to be held today.

Swimming sibling Aaron and Celeste Brown have wrapped up their swimming competition at the Youth Olympics where they competed well but didn’t qualify for further than the heats.

“The whole experience of being here has been fantastic and we would like to thank our families and friends for your kind words of support for the duration of the games,” said Marsters.

Team Cook Islands can be contacted by email on this address: smarsters@cisnoc.org.ck