Beat Saudi Arabia 2-0, lose to Thailand 0-3 in pre-quarters:

Mixed fortunes for Lankan tennis team

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from China

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 13 - Sri Lanka tennis team enjoyed mixed fortunes on the second day of the 16th Asian Games here today. They won their opening tie against Saudi Arabia comfortably and then went down to seventh seeded Thailand in the pre-quarter finals of the Asian Games men’s team championship.

Sri Lanka had a convincing two matches to nil win over Saudi Arabia in their first round tie worked off this morning. But the afternoon session brought a bitter experience to the Lankan team as they were outplayed by much fancied seventh seeded Thai team nil-three.

Earlier this morning, Davis Cup player Harshana Godamanna, along with Vimukthi Gerald de Alwis powered Sri Lanka to a convincing two games to nil victory over Saudi Arabia in their opening tie.

Godamanna, who won the 95th Colombo Championship singles title only a fortnight before his departure to China, was in top form to complete the task in just 48 minutes. He never allowed his opponent to settle down in the first set and overcame Saudi Arabia’s Omar Sulaiman Al Thagib in straight sets 6-0, 6-3.

In contrast, Godamanna’s team mate De Alwis had some anxious moments in the first set in his match against Saudi Arabian Fahd Sulaiman Al Saad. The first set went into a tiebreaker before De Alwis had an exciting 7-5 victory after a 61-minute battle on the court. However, the Lankan lad recovered quickly and took only 30 minutes to win the second set and with it the match in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

But Thailand, being a seeded team, appeared too strong for the Lankan lads who lost all their three matches of the tie - two singles and doubles game.

In fact, Godamanna had to face the men’s singles gold medallist of the last Asian Games in Doha 2006, Danai Udomchoke, who had three aces in overpowering the Lankan lad in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in 76 minutes.

The other singles match of the tie saw Kittiphong Wachiramanowong beating Sri Lanka’s Thangarajah Dineshkanthan in equal fashion 6-4, 6-4. Thailand’s Ratiwatana twin brothers - Sanchai and Sonchat, combined effectively to beat Sri Lanka’s Dineshkanthan and Vimuktha de Alwis in the doubles match with the least effort - in a mere 33-minute job for a straight sets win - 6-1, 6-0.

Lankan shooters off target

At the Aoti Shooting Range this morning, Sri Lanka’s Senanayake Edirisinghe finished 26th out of 43 marksmen who competed in the first round of the men’s 50m qualifying round.

Edirisinghe, who represented Sri Lanka at the Beijing Asian Games here in China two years ago, had a total of 541 points with breaks of 90, 87, 94, 93, 91, 86 in the six rounds he fired in the first round. He is due to compete in men’s 10m air pistol event on Sunday morning. Speaking to media after the event, Edirisinghe said the competition was tough and he had little time to settle down to local conditions and range. Nevertheless, he said this was a good experience for him to do better in future.

Japan’s Jongoh Jin was the most accurate shooter with a total of 566 points to finish on top. He had some near perfect shots with scores of 93, 95, 94, 93, 96,95 in the six rounds. His team mate from Tokyo, Sando Lee finished third with 560 points, behind second-placed Qi Feng Pu of China - who was one just one point short of the leader (565).

Hosts China underlined their supremacy with back to back medals. They won the gold medal in men’s 10m air rifle team event. Pu Qifeng of China won the gold medal in men’s 50m pistol event while his team mate Yi Siling won the gold medal in women’s 10m air rifle event.

In the men’s 10m air rifle event, Sri Lanka’s Mangala Samarakoon finished 38th out of 48 competitors. He aggregated 579 points. Qinan Zhu of China finished on top after the qualification round with an impressive 598.

Only South Korea was able to prevent China going for a clean sweep with the fourth shooting gold medal that was on offer today. The team from Seoul bagged the gold medal in men’s 50m pistol team shooting event.

In men’s gymnastics, Sri Lanka’s Tharindu Pathmaperuma and B. Nadeeka S. Cooray were ranked 16th and 20th respectively after their six events - floor exercises, parallel bar, uneven bar, pommel horse, rings and horizontal bar. Pathmaperuma totaled 67.150 points while Cooray finished with 64.400 points.

Hosashi Mizutori (90.250 points - first), Kyoichi Watanabe (88.000 - second) and Takuya Nakase (87.200 - fourth) came out with brilliant all-round performances to secure the first place for Japan. The second best performance in the individual rankings went to Uzbenistan’s Anton Fokin (88.900) as his team settled for the silver.

At Dongguan Gymnasium, Sri Lanka’s Sangeeth Wijesuriya finished fourth among the six weightlifters who competed in men’s 56kg Group B. The Lankan lifter snatch lift of 99kg and a modest 122 kg in clean and jerk to total 221kg. Indians S. Balluri (245 kg) and Sukhen Dev (230 kg) secured the first two places of the 56kg Group B.

But in the final standings after the Group A event which has the best, Wijesuriya was placed 13th . China’s Jingbiao Wu went on to win the men’s 56kg weightlifting gold with a new Asian Games record lift of 285kg - 133kg snatch and 152kg in clean and jerk.

Lankans in action today

Among the Sri Lankans to be seen in action at Guangzhou Games on Sunday will be weightlifter Indika Dissanayake who will compete in men’s 62kg event at Dongguan Gymnasium.

Apart from weightlifter Dissanayake and pistol shooter Senanayake, all other Sri Lankans to compete in Asian Games events on Sunday would be sailors.

In the sailing events scheduled for Sunday morning and afternoon at Shanwei Water Sports Centre, Lakshan Gunawardena (men’s mistral - race 1 and 2), Avishka de Alwis (men’s dinghy optimist - race 1 and 2), Sureni Gunaratne (women’s dinghy optimist race 1 and 2) and Krishan Welandagoda (open laser radial race 1 and 2) will be seen in action.