Sri Lanka’s sailing team painted a poor picture, finishing last in their respective events at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China today. Sureni Gunaratne came last (ninth) in women’s dinghy optimist race 1, which was won by China’s Yuting Lu. Lakshan Gunawardena too was placed last in his men’s mistral race 1, way behind the winner King Yin Chen of Hong Kong.
Young Dinouk Avishka de Alwis too failed to justify his presence, finishing tenth out of 11 competitors in men’s dinghy optimist race 1, won by Singaporean Ryan Lo Jun Lo. Adding to Lankan rowing team’s misery was Kanishka Jayaratne and Sanjeev de Silva who were placed last in men’s lightweight Double Sculls heats race 1.The due clocked an unimpressive 7:06.32, way behind the winning combination from Hong Kong – Kwong Chow and Sau Wah So – 6:35.33.
Welandagoda, De Alwis, Gunawardena and Gunaratne fared no better in their respective second races, managing to secure only the last places as they did in the morning session.
De Alwis was placed last in men’s dinghy race 2 while Gunaratne too came last in the women’s race 2 of the same event. Welandagoda too was last (12th) in open laser race 2. Gunawarena was seventh in men’s mistral race, finishing slightly ahead of Pakistani Muhammed Saijad.
The biggest disappointment for Sri Lanka on day three was weightlifter Indika Dissanayake who was forced to withdraw from men’s 62kg Group B event. He failed to clear his all three snatch attempts to lift 112kg.
Olympian Senanayake Edirisinghe was the other who contributed to Sri Lanka’s team run today, finishing 35th out of 50 competitors in the men’s 10m air pistol event. He had an inaccurate six rounds of 94, 92, 96, 94, 91, 96 to aggregate 563 points (average 9.383) in the qualifying round. Finishing on top of the list was China’s Zonggllang Tan with scores of 96, 96, 97, 100, 99, 97 to aggregate 585 (average 9.750).