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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Prasanna, Rohan Pradeep win medals in South Korea by Dinesh Weerawansa Sri Lanka bagged a silver medal and a bronze in men's 400m final at the Asian Athletic Championships in Incheon, South Korea yesterday. Prasanna Amarasekera accounted for the silver medal, in 46-11 seconds, finishing behind his rival from Japan while compatriot Rohan Pradeep Kumara settled for the bronze medal in a keenly contested final. It was a great comeback by soldier Amarasekera who could not make any impact at last month's IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. Amarasekera, who beat Pradeep Kumara in one of the three 2005 Asian Grand Prix finals, had taken the lead in the 400m only in the 50m of the final. Reports from Korea said former Asian Championship gold medallist Rohan Pradeep was in the lead with the Japanese upto the 350s mark but it was then that Amarasekera had fired all his cylinders to go pass the team mate. Former Asian Games gold medallist, Sunil Gunawardena, who coaches both the medal winning sprinters, said Amarasekera's feat was even more great as he had to compete in men's 200m qualifying round last morning. "The conditions were not the ideal I guess. Nevertheless, it was a performance by the two boys," he said. Gunawardena said Amarasekera has done well to bounce back after his World Championship performance and should do well in the meets to come. He also said Asian Games triple gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha too should stand a chance of winning a medal in women's 200m having decided to go back to her former pet event in which he won back to back Asian Games gold medals in 1998 and 2002. "Having recovered from leg injury which kept her out of several key meets during the last couple of years, she has now settled and should do well in 200m. I am confident that she would regain her old form," he said. Darsha, who missed out a place in Sri Lanka team for last month's World Championships in Finland, is due to run in women's 400m final of the Asian Championships today. Also down for today will be men's 4X400m final in which Sri Lanka is due to compete with Rohan Pradeep and Amarasekera likely to do the second and anchor laps. Team sources in Incheon said that security has been beefed up, following the decamping of three Sri Lanka athletes, allegedly gone missing to see employment in South Korea. Tight security has been imposed in and around the team hostel and visitors to the area has been restricted, sources added. |
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