Sri Lanka’s medal hopes in the men’s and women’s 400m finals were completely shattered at the Asian Games in Guangzhou today. Chandrika Subhashini, who was in the third place by the halfway mark but she lacked endurance when it mattered the most and settled for the last place with a poor timing of 55.05 seconds.
Olga Tereshkova successfully defended thewomen’s 400m gold medal she won in Doha 2006 Games with a seasons best51.97 seconds. Japan’s Asami Chiba won the silver in 52.68 seconds.It was the same pathetic story for Sri Lanka in men’s 400m final as Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera too lost his grip halfway through the race to settle for the sixth place with a timing of only 47.05 seconds.
Qatar’s Femi Seun Ogunode had a personal best 45.12 seconds to win the first major title of his career – the 400m gold here. Yazo Kanemaru clocked a season’s best 45.32 to secure the silver medal.
Amarasekera was almost one second behind his intended mark of 46.1 as disclosed on the eve of the final. “Compared to yesterday, today is colder and I could not run my normal race. I have given two medals for my country in the previous Asian Games in Doha and Busan. I hope to make it with the men’s 4 x 400m relay,” he said after the race.