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| Sunday, 11 August 2002 |
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Susanthika Jayasinghe strikes first Gold for Sri Lanka by Leslie Fernando
Susanthika Jayasinghe emerged as fastest woman in Asia winning the 100 metres dash and obtaining the first Gold medal for Sri Lanka on day two of the 14th Asian Athletic Championship held at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. The ace woman sprinter, compensated for her failure to win the gold in this event at the Commonwealth Games concluded recently in Manchester, England. She got off to a flying start off the blocks in Lane 4 and outclassed the other seven opponents with comfortable ease to time 11.29 seconds. In the heats, she clocked 11.40 secs and it was a fine improvement. She had a good lead from the Silver medalist Qin Wanspius of China who clocked 11.56. The Bronze medal went to Parepeieve Zyuboy of Uzbekistan 11.60 secs Pradeepa Herath finished eighth in 12.14 secs. Immediately after striking the first Gold for Sri Lanka Susanthika Jayasinghe said that she will will go flat out to get a double, that's winning the 200 metres event. She said that the confidence was so great and she was certain of the 100 metres event. Sri Lanka ace woman hurdler Sriyani Kulawansa qualified for the 100 metres hurdles final when she went over the hurdles perfectly in the first heat, comes in first with a timing of 13.67 secs. Pradeepa Herath 14.22 secs in the first heat (4th) and W.K.I. Imayangani 14.80 secs in the second heat (4th) also qualified for the finds. According to President AAA Sunil Jayaweera, Susanthika Jayasinghe will be presented a purse of rupees five lakhs for her feat in addition to other benefits to be awarded by the Sports Minister.o11sac39mg Japan's Koji - Asian mark Murobushi Koji of Japan accounted for the second Asian Championship record in the men's hammer throw with a new distance of 78.55 meters on day two of the 14th Asian Athletic Championship held at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. Koji broke the 11 year old record held by Andrey Adbuveliev of Uzbekistan 76.67 meters at the 1991 Asian Championship held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our key sprinters among the men Chinthaka de Soysa and Sumindika Mendis failed to qualify to run in the 100 meters final. Chinthaka running in the second heat was placed sixth with a time of 10.82 secs. while Mendis 'clocked' 11.06 secs. in the first heat to be in sixth position. J. M. A. K. Jayasundara timed 51.73 secs. in the second heat of the 400 metres hurdles and qualified to participate in the final. Harijan Ratnayake also qualified to run in the final with a time of 52.09 secs. Both Jayasundara and Ratnayake were placed third and fourth in their respective heats. In the 400 metres hurdle heat for women both S. Y. A. Kusumawathie 1:02:70 secs. and M. A. Shamalee 1:06:14 put up a poor performance to finish last in their heats. Chaminda Wijekoon, Thilak Nishantha and H. K. S. Priyantha did well to qualify to run in the 1500 meters today (Sunday). All three athletes reached the qualified timing in the two heats. Chaminda (4:00:02 secs), Thilak (4:00:60 secs) in the first heat and Priyantha (4:14:64 secs) recorded the respective timing. Yoshizawa Eiichi of Japan took the gold in the 20km. walk for men 1:26:51 secs. Toshihito also of Japan finished second 1:28:06 secs. and Shinil Young of Korea third 1:3:07 secs. O. G. Somasooriya of Sri Lanka finished last 1:47:21 secs. Amongst 9 competitors M. D. Sunil of Sri Lanka did not finish. Sri Lanka fielded three in men's long jumpers but only Sujith Rohitha with a leap of 7.37 meters qualified for the long jump finals on the final day of the championship. The two other jumpers Lalith Ravindra 7:19 meters (14th place) and L. W. R. Perera 6.95 meters (16th position) did not show up for the final. 100 metres men In the men's 100 metres, Jamal al-Safaar of Saudi Arabia retained his title clocking 10.43 seconds. His compatriot Salem al-Yami, the 100 metres winner at the West Asian Games in Kuwait earlier this year, finished third as Chernovol Gennadly of Kazakhstan pipped him to the post. Saudi Arabia won another gold later in the day when Saad al-Asamari won the steeplechase, warding off challenge from the Qatari duo of Abdullah Khamis and Ali Abubaker. Today's Program Time 0700 20km Walk Final Women |
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