Niamh Coyne and Mona McSharry have qualified for the final of the 50m breaststroke at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

Both swimmers eased through their respective heats before Sunday's evening session, where Coyne finished second in her semi-final, with McSharry third in the other semi.

Dubliner Coyne's time of 31.80 seconds was fourth fastest overall, while McSharry swam 32.01 seconds, which was the sixth best time. The final takes place on Monday.

Earlier, Nhat Nguyen was the first Irish athlete in action at the Youth Games and the Dubliner enjoyed an opening victory in the Badminton singles, beating Kettiya Keoxay from Laos in the first round.

"I felt comfortable enough – the show was a bit slower than I expected, but you just adjust to it. It was a comfortable win so I’m happy with my performance," said Nguyen following his 21-11 21-6 win.

Dublin’s Georgia Drummy and her Georgian partner, Ana Makatsaria, went out in two straight sets to their Japanese opponents.

Galway gymnast Emma Slevin performed well in the women’s floor event qualification, scoring 12.10 and placed 15th overall.

The youngest member on Team Ireland was also the flag bearer in Saturday night’s opening ceremony, was pleased with her performance stating: "It went really well, I aimed for over 12.0 and I got a 12.1 so I'm happy."

Day Two of the Youth Games will see Slevin in action in the women’s vault, while Nguyen will take to the court once again in the group play stage of the singles.

Drummy will play the first round of the women’s singles, while the aforementioned 50m breaststroke final also takes place.