Heshan gets better time but fails to win a medal

Chinthana WASALA in Singapore

The Trinitian 16-year-old swimmer Heshan Unamboowe was placed sixth in the first semi final of the boys’ 50m freestyle event clocking 25.09 seconds and failed to make it to the last eight in the 1st Asian Youth games which is now underway in Singapore.

Heshan finished third in the first round with a tine of 25.11 seconds and later saw a much better performance from him in a very competitive semi final but could not reach the final.

Lankan beach volleyballers had a sad exit when in the boys quarter final with Kazakhstan advancing to the semi finals at the Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island yesterday.

The duo of Ashen Jeewantha, Sandun Madushanka fought hard till the end, giving the spectators a chance to view a great game of beach volleyball which ended at 21-17, 25-23 in favour of the Kazakhs.

Although Sandun and Ashen failed to enter the semis, it was an outstanding performance from them and they were the only unbeaten duo to enter the quarters to be among the best eight out of 45 Asian countries.

Thailand and Kazakhstan will play the final for the gold today at the same venue.

In yesterdays boys table tennis singles second round matches, Imantha Udhanjaya and Hasintha Shashiranga were defeated by two Chinese Taipei players. Both lost their games in straight sets at 3-0. Imantha beat Nepal 3-2 (11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-7) and Hasintha defeated the player from Mongolia, 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7) to enter the second round from which they failed to advance through.

Heshan Unamboowe will be the only Sri Lankan to be in action today and the chance of advancing in the medal tally for Sri Lanka will depend on his performances. He will take part in the boys 50m Backstroke and 100m freestyle events.

Although the sports venues, except for bowling, looked pretty much empty by yesterday, the AYG officials announced that all the tickets at the Anglican High School where the Basketball events take place, were sold out.

Today there were enthusiasts of FIBA 3-3 basketball, the shorter version of the game of Basketball, waiting outside the main entrance of the Anglican High School hoping they would get any tickets to witness the games on the final day of basketball.

China with 18 golds, 7 silvers and 4 bronze medals is in the lead of the medal tally followed by Republic of Korea with 8 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronze medals. Japanese are in the third slot with a total of 12 medals (5 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze). India, the only South Asian Country ahead of Sri Lanka in the medal tally, have secured the fourth position with five Golds, three silvers and two bronze medals. There was no change in Sri Lanka’s position.