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| Sunday, 13 October 2002 |
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Surprise bronze by Lankan Edward in karate by DINESH WEERAWANSA reporting from South Korea BUSAN, Oct. 12 - Sri Lanka's men's 4 x 400m relay team warmed up for 'gold' while karateka R. J. Edward bagged the bronze medal in men's individual kata on day 14 of the 14th Asian Games here today. Injured 400m specialist Sugath Tillakaratne followed instructions to run a relaxed anchor lap as the Lankan men's relay team won their semi-final heat one this afternoon to qualify for Sunday's final. Sri Lanka team returned a timing of three minutes, 4.75 seconds to secure the first place in the semi-final one with a lead of over ten metres over India (3:06.14). In the third place was Philippines (3:08.68), followed by Qatar (3:09.54). All four teams qualified for the final, except for fifth placed South Korea (3:12.11). The second semi-final was won by Saudi Arabia, which clocked 3:06.02, ahead of Japan (3:06.73), China (3:09.68) and Thailand (3:10.04) - all four moving out to tomorrow's final, in which Sri Lanka will be running in lane three, flanked by Philippines (2) and Saudi Arabia (4). Running with a bandaged right thigh following a hamstring injury, Tillakaratne had a relaxed 48.14-second anchor lap after his team mates took an easy lead. Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Ranga Wimalawansa and Prasanna Amarasekera gave a considerable 25m lead, enabling Tillakaratne to have a relaxed anchor lap. The Bangkok Asian Games 400m gold medallist has still not fully recovered from his hamstring injury and Sri Lanka's strategy was to give him a good lead by the end of third lap. Tillakaratne had been instructed to speed only if his rivals are catching up Sri Lanka's head, which never happened. Running in lane four Busan Games 400m bronze medallist, Pradeep Kumara ran an impressive first lap, of which the hand timing was 44.94 seconds. Kumara had a lead of about four metres when he handed over the baton to Ranga Wimalawansa to do the second lap. He too capitalised on his predecessor's lead, to give Prasanna Amarasekera a lead of over 30m. Tillakaratne, rightly following his coaches' instructions, kept his cool and ran only to keep the lead as he was very much relaxed in doing the last 200m, looking at the giant television screen at the stadium to see whether his rivals are charging. The hand-timings the Lankan team coaches monitored today for strategic importance were - Pradeep Kumara (44.94 sec), Wimalawansa (45.45), Amarasekera (45.95) and Tillakaratne (48.14), which does not depict the full potential of the team, which ran merely to qualify and get a better lane. "Our chances look bright. On present form, the only thing that could separate our team from the gold medal is Sugath (Tillakaratne)'s injury. If he runs his normal 400m lap, then we are sure of men's 4 x 400m gold," said Sri Lanka team coach Sunil Gunawardena. He said Tillakaratne is capable of doing his anchor lap well under 46 seconds, giving a near two-second advantage of the relaxed timing he registered today. "We elevated the timings today and if we are given the advantage of a superior anchor lap, we could go for the gold," said Gunawardena. Tillakaratne will have further 20 hours to gain full fitness before Sunday's final, scheduled for 11 am local time - 8 am SL time. Five track and field finals were worked off on the sixth day of the 14th Asian Games athletic competition at Sajik Main Stadium today. The gold medallists were Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain (3 mts, 47.33 sec in men's 1,500m), Yingjie Sun of China (new Games record of 14 mts, 40.11 in women's 5,000m), Yuan Gu of China (70.49m in women's hammer throw), Hussein Al Saba of Saudi Arabia (new Games record of 8.14m in men's long jump) and Rongxiang Li of China (82.21m in men's javelin throw). Meanwhile, Sri Lanka bagged a surprise medal at the karate-do competition of the 14th Asian Games at Yangsan College Gymnasium, Busan. R. J. Edward gave Sri Lanka its fifth medal and the first in karate, when he finished third in men's individual kata event. The 27-year-old Lankan lad had a convincing 3-0 win over Pakistani Farman Ahmed in the kata final Repechage Group 'A'. "I am so glad to win Sri Lanka's first Asian Games medal in karate. I think this is a good start and that this famous martial art could be further developed in Sri Lanka," a jubilant Lankan karate medallist said. The gold medal in this event went to Malaysian Jin Keat Ku, who beat Hong Kong's Pan Pan Wong easily 3-0. Edward stood an outside chance of winning another medal but he lost his men's kumite 60kg first round bout to Uzbekistan's Iikhom Karimov after a keenly contested tussle 5-7 today. In the preliminary rounds of men's kumite 55kg event, Sri Lanka's U. D. C. Mahinda lost badly to Uzbekistan's Otabek Kasimov 1-9. In the first repechage Group A, Nepal's Adhikari beat Mahinda 9-2. Sri Lankan Chamal S. S. Wewalage lost his men's kumite 70kg quarter final contest with Nepalese Ravi Maharjan 0-8. It was a sad day for South Asian world hockey giants India and Pakistan with both losing their crucial last games today. Hosts South Korea emerged men's hockey champions at the 14th Asian Games when they humbled former world champions India in the final played at Gangseo Hockey Stadium today. It was Korea, who drew first blood with two match-winning goals in the first half to lead 2-0 at half time. India came back strongly with a hat-trick of goals after the breather but it was of no evil as the Koreans beat the Indian goalkeeper twice in the second half to win 4-3. Malaysia, after trailing 0-1 at half time, beat Pakistan by five goals to two win the bronze medal in the third-place play-off today. |
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