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| Sunday, 8 June 2003 |
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Lankan athletes hope for better performance in final leg of Asian Grand Prix by CHRIS DHAMBARAGE reporting from Manila MANILA, June 7: The Sri Lankan athletes will be hoping to produce an improved performance when the fourth and final leg of the Asian Grand Prix Series gets under way here in Manila on Monday. The Sri Lankan athletic contingent is sponsored by SriLankan Airlines and Dankotuwa Porcelain. The ten-member Sri Lankan team failed to live upto expectations, winning only two events during the third leg of the Asian Grand Prix Series held in Bangkok. In an all-Sri Lankan contest, Sugath Tillekeratne powered his way to win the men's 400 metres event while Damayanthi Darsha regained her form by winning the women's 400 metres event. This was in contrast to their performances in Colombo where the Sri Lankan athletes won as many as five events in front of their home crowd. The weather conditions are likely to affect the athletes once again but are determined to wined off the series on a impressive note. The contest between Olympic bronze medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe and Khubbieva Guzel of Uzbekistan will continue once again with the Sri Lankan sprint queen determined to make amends for her defeat in Bangkok. Susanthika Jayasinghe made a fantastic start to the Asian Grand Prix Series winning the women's 100 metres dash in Hyderabad with a record time of 11.15 seconds. Jayasinghe also won the second leg in Colombo despite clocking an impressive 11.53 seconds. But her hopes of making it three in a row was shattered when she was pushed to the second place by her arch rival Khubbieva Guzel of Uzbekistan. Apart from Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka's other bright prospect will be Asian Games triple gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha who bounced back to win the women's 400 metres in Colombo after being pushed to the second place by Kazakhastan's Svetlana Bodritskaya in the first leg at Hyderabad. Darsha produced a repeat performance in Bangkok winning the event in 52.20 seconds and look set complete a hattrick of victories in the Grand Prix Series. Even then, Darsha is certain to receive stiff opposition from her rival Bodritskaya who will be determined to avenge her defeat in this fourth and final leg. Meanwhile the Sri Lankan trio of Sugath Tillekeratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Prasanna Amarasekera will be out for a repeat performance, having won the men's 400 metres event in Colombo and in Bangkok respectively. The performance of Amarasekera is in fact quite encouraging, because he was not included into the original Sri Lankan squad but was selected to compete in Bangkok and Manila after coming third in the men's 400 metres event in Colombo. In addition, A. B. N. Nishantha was also included into the Sri Lankan squad after he finished second in the men's javelin throw in Colombo with a new record of 79.06 metres. The Sri Lankan team: Susanthika Jayasinghe (women's 100 metres), Rohan Pradeep (men's 400 metres), Damayanthi Darsha (women's 400 metres), Sugath Tillekeratne (men's 400 metres), Sriyani Kulawansa (women's 100 metres hurdles), prasanna Amarasekera (men's 400 metres), A. B. N. Nishantha (men's javelin throw), J. H. M. Shifrath (men's 800 metres), Indika Kumara de Silva (men's 110 metres hurdles) and P. W. G. M. Pushpakumara (men's 800 metres). |
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