Sudbury baller misses medal at Youth Olympics

Tiye Traore will return from the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore without a medal after the Canadian girls' basketball team lost to the United States Aug. 23.

The Lockerby student is the only Greater Sudbury youth to make Canada's team. The team went undefeated until the quarter finals, where it was defeated by China in a close match, 28-21.

"We need to learn from the mistakes we made in this game and correct them,” Traore said in a press release. “We really need to get off to a better start.”

The loss barred the team from making it to the gold medal match, and instead the girls battled against the United States for bronze.

But medal hopes were dashed when the United States stomped the Canadians, 34-16. The Canadians instead came home with a fourth place finish.

The Youth Olympics opened on Aug. 14 and end Aug. 26. An estimated 3,600 athletes between 14 and 18 years of age are competing in Singapore.

The event marks the first time a Youth Olympics has been organized. Organizers plan to hold the sporting event every four years in staggered summer and winter events, according to the event's website.

The next games are the Winter Youth Olympic Games, set for 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria. The next Summer Youth Olympic Games are scheduled for 2014 in Nanjing, China.