Kalinga Kumarage secured eighth place in the men’s 400m final with a time of 46.249secs at the 18th Asian Games continued at the Gloraban Karno sports stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday. Gold and silver medals were won by Qatar and India respectively.
Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri failed to impress in the men’s long jump finals and only managed to finish seventh out of 12 with a performance of 7.86 metres. China won the gold and silver medals while India clinched the bronze.
Lankan women’s long distance runner Hiruni Wijeratne had to withdraw from the 10,000m final. Kazakstan’s Daria Maslova (32:07.23 secs) won the gold while Baharain’s Iyunic Chumba (32:11.12 secs) and China’s Desung Sung (32:12.78 secs) bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Lankan athletes Nimali Liyanarachchi, Gayanthika Abeyratne and Indunil Herath will compete in the men’s and women’s 800m events today. The women’s preliminaries will start at 8.30am and 8.50 am (SL time) followed by the men’s preliminaries at 6.35pm.
Nimali said that this is her first Asian Games experience and she is determined to win a medal. “I think I have a good opportunity to win a medal. I won the gold in 2017 Asian Championship. I am competing with the same athletes here today. But it is a great loss that I do not have my coach with me. I will try my best to make my coach and country proud,” she said.
Indunil who has undergone seven months training in Kenya revealed that he too hoped to win a medal. “I trained hard in Kenya. I ran at 1:47.6 secs in Sri Lanka before I went to Kenya. I have improved my timing to 1:45 secs after the training and I will try to perform well and win a medal for my country,” he said.
China’s Su Bingtain became the fastest man in Asian when he completed the 100m final in 9.92 secs creating a new meet record. The silver medal was won by Qatar’s Tosin Ogunode (10.00secs) while the bronze medal going to Japan’s Ryota Yamagata (10.00 secs).
Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong won the women’s 100m final clocking 11.30 secs. India’s Dutee Chand (11.32 secs) and China’s Wei Yongli (11.33 secs) bagged the silver and bronze medals. Dutee Chand finished second to Sri Lanka’s Rumeshika Ratnayaka at the 2016 Asian Games when Rumeshika won the gold. But Rumeshika was not included in this year’s Asian Games squad.
Nimali Ratnayaka who will compete in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event said her aim is to record a better timing. “I have recorded 9.46 secs and hope to better my timing here.”
Lankan shuttlers Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Gunathileka went down to former world champions China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 2-0 (12/21, 15/21) in the men’s doubles event. Sachin was quite happy to compete among the top eight and said he and Buwaneka gained a lot of experience by competing with former world champs. Both shuttlers said their aim is to represent the country at the Olympics and win a medal.
Kavindi Ishadika and Niluka Karunaratne were defeated by their Thailand and Hong Kong opponents in the badminton singles.
Sri Lankan men’s hockey team recorded its second victory when they beat host Indonesia by 3-1. Sri Lanka recorded their goals in the second, third and final quarters while Indonesia scored their goal in thethird quarter. The first quarter saw a tough scoreless battle as both teams struggled to open their accounts. Sri Lanka will take on India in the final match of the preliminary round.
Commonwealth boxing medalist Anusha Kodithuwakku competing in the 51kg Weight category was edged out by her Japanese rival Madoka Wada 4-1.
Korea beat Lankan 3x3 women’s basketball team 21-8, but Lankan lasses won their match against Siriya 15-12. It was Sri Lanka’s solitary basketball win but they were knocked out of the competition.
Lankan volleyball team went down to the strong Chinese counterparts 3-1. Sri Lanka beat Maldives 3-1 to secure a place among 13-20 positions. Maldives led in the first round 25-16, but Sri Lanka fought back to win the second round 25-18 and continued their winning streak to win the third as well 27-25.
Prasanga Sandaruwan entered the quarter final round of the 60kg karate event beating Afghanistan’s Osamani Hazrzt Gul 4-2. Prasanga was later defeated by Malaysia’s Prem Kumar 1-3.
Kavindu Jayakody (84kg) and Dinusha Kumari (50kg) will compete in today’s karate events.
China is leading the medals tally after eight days with Japan and Korea second and third respectively. Eleven nations including Sri Lanka have not won a single medal to-date.
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