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| Sunday, 15 August 2004 |
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Pushpamali 38th in women's 10m. air rifle event Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece ATHENS, Aug 14 - Russian Lioubov Galkina established a new Olympic Games record while Sri Lankan Pushpamali Ramanayake finished 38th in the women's 10m air rifle qualification round of the XXV111th Olympiad shooting competition which began at the Shooting Centre here today. Galkina, who shares the world record of the event with seven others, scored an impressive 399 to erase the previous Olympic Games record of 397 held by German Petra Horneber since Atlanta 1996. The Russian lass scored 99 in the first of the four series, and was then right on target in the remaining three to complete a maximum 100 each to aggregate 399, which gave her an average of 9.975. In contrast, Sri Lanka's Ramanayake fared poorly in the second and fourth rounds though she started off with a modest 97 in the first. Firing at her third Olympics since Barcelona, 1992, Ramanayake scored 97, 96, 98, 95 to aggregate an unimpressive 386, well behind her career best score of 392. "It was not my day. I made my best effort but things did not go that well" Ramanayake said after finishing 38 out of 44 competitors and missing a place in the finals. But a determined Ramanayake, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, said she would now concentrate hard for her remaining event - women's 50m rifle three-position. The qualifying round of the event is scheduled for Friday (20) with a total of 33 women firing for honours. 'The competition level is high right from the qualifying round. There was a new Olympic record right at the qualifying round of women's 10m air rifle event. There were several other good scores. We should expect similar level of competitiveness in the three position event as well. But I would try to do my best' Ramanayake added. Despite Galkina accounting for the first Olympic Games record in Athens, the Chinese girl, who came second to her in the qualifying round with just a solitary point behind, emerged the first gold medalist of the Athens Olympiad. Li Du, one of the eight joint holders of the world record, pushed Galkina to second place to take the gold - the first on offer at Athens. Following Russian Galkina's feat in shooting, the second Olympic record in Athens came in swimming when Japan's Kosuke Kitajima clocked one minute and 0.3 seconds in men's 100m breaststroke qualifying round heats. Two Sri Lankan swimmers - Conrad Francis and Menaka de Silva are due to compete at the Olympic Aqua Centre here on Thursday and Friday respectively. The details of their first round heats line up were issued today. Accordingly, Francis will swim in men's 100m butterflystroke heat two. Training in Australia on an IOC scholarship, Francis will be in lane two, flanked by Gordon Touw (SUR) and Michal Rubaek (Czech Republic). Of the eights swimmers drawn in the second of the nine men's 100m butterfly heats, Andy Wibowo has the best entry timing of 55.86 seconds while Francis is 56.36. Sri Lanka Navy's Menaka de Silva will swim in heat four of the women's 50m freestyle event qualifying round to be worked off on Friday morning. She is drawn in lane seven, flanked by Geraldine Arce (NCA) and Dohi Eliane Droubby (CIV). Melanie Slowing (GUA) has the best entry timing of 26.89 seconds in this heat while de Silva has only 28.48. Physiotherapist Srimal Wickremasinghe joined the Sri Lanka contingent at the Athletes Village as Sri Lankans prepared for the track and field competition. A Sri Lankan residing in the United Kingdom, Wickremasinghe immediately got in to action and look after the needs of Sri Lankan athletes. Chef de Mission of the Sri Lanka contingent, Joseph Kenny said today that the presence of Wickremasinghe is a big boost for the team. "He is a very qualified physiotherapist and the athletes are happy with the service he is rendering," Kenny said. Team doctor Shiromi Pilapitiya of the Sports Medicine Unit of the Ministry of Sports is attending to overall medical needs of the team. Meanwhile, high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekera is due to arrive in the Greek capital later in the day. He could not reach here with the Sri Lanka contingent last Monday as his accreditation card did not reach Colombo on time. Manager of the Athletic team. Commodore Shemal Fernando said Wijesekera would keep Sri Lanka's expectations high. He added that the four athletes down to compete - Damayanthi Darsha (women's 400m), Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando (men's 400m). Anuradha Indrajith Cooray (men's marathon) and Wijesekera (men's high jump) have been working hard over the past few weeks and should be able to do well. However, Sydney 2000 Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe is not taking part in her women's 100m event, as stated in these columns on Tuesday. Despite a request by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is currently here for the 202-nation Games, Jayasinghe is not going to change her decision. Jayasinghe's surprise and controversial decision which came only after landing in the Greek capital surprised many. But Jayasinghe carried the Lion flag at last night's colourful opening ceremony as the overall captain of the Sri Lanka contingent. It was a night to remember and a proud occasion for the Greek people, who spoke high of their connection to the Games as the birthplace of the ancient Games as well as the city of revival of the modern Games for nearly three centuries. |
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