Sri Lanka’s biggest disappointment for the day was middle distance runner Chaminda Wijekoon, of whom a medal was expected in men’s 1,500m event at the Asian Games in China. But he made a sad first round exit after aggravating his old leg injury today.
Running in men’s 1,500m first round heat 2 today, Wijekoon was in the lead after the first two rounds crossing the 800m mark in two minutes, 10.21 seconds. It was then that his old leg injury started giving trouble and the Asian Championship silver medalist was forced to slowdown his normal blistering run in the last round.
That resulted Wijekoon finishing sixth with a time of 3:55.25 and finishing sixth in his heat to miss out a place in the final. He was carried to the team bus in a wheelchair as he had a difficulty in walking with the injury. Saudi Arabian Emad Hamed Noor won the race in 3:53.73, followed by Adnan Almntfage (3:53.79) of Iraq.