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| Wednesday, 2 October 2002 |
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Athletes promise to bring more glory by Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from South Korea BUSAN, Tuesday - Sri Lanka athletic team has pledged to put aside all differences and unite to bring more glory to the country, the Chef de mission of the contingent Cmdr. H.U. Silva said today. He said the athletes had a special meeting last night at the Games Village and assured to maintain team spirit at all times to keep Sri Lanka's medal hopes alive. The athletes village has turned out to be a busy place. Despite language and cultural differences, near 10,000 athletes and officials from 44 countries are mixing well as one family, showing the 'Power of Asia' to the rest of the world. Language differences may hamper direct communication amongst athletes but they still make use of sign language and broken English (spoken slowly) to get their messages across. Sports is a great leveller, ironing out all political, racial, cultural and racial differences and this has been evident at this Asian sports extravaganza. Marching athletes of North and South Koreas side by side, holding their hands, at the opening ceremony is a good example which proved what a big role sports could play to develop harmony amongst nations. Wednesday (2) will be the fourth day of the 14th Asian Games here and there will be a total of 31 gold medals to be decided on this day. Sri Lanka rugby team ended its seven-a-side competition today and will now prepare for their much important 15-a-side competition, which starts on October 5. Sri Lanka stands a good chance of winning the bronze medal here, provided they beat Taiwan. The 15-a-side rugby tournament at the Asian Games will give an ideal opportunity for Sri Lanka to test their strength before the 2002 Rugby Asiad, scheduled to be worked off in Bangkok later this year. Sri Lanka will figure in the 'curtain raiser' game of the Asian Games 15-a-side competition on October 5 at 12 noon local time (9 am SL time). Sri Lanka's other two league games will be against Japan on October 9 and against Taiwan on October 13. There are no major injury worries in the team and coach C.P. Abeygoonawardena expects his boys to do better in the 15s, especially in the decisive last game against Taiwan, which would all probability determine the bronze medal. |
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