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| Friday, 24 October 2003 |
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Inaugural Afro-Asian Games Four more added to Lankan squad by Dinesh Weerawansa Four more were yesterday added to the Sri Lanka team for the inaugural Afro-Asian Games to be worked off in India later this month. Accompanied by national coach Lankshman de Alwis, Sri Lanka team is due to leave for India on Saturday. The first ever dual Games between Asia and African continent will commence today in the Andra Pradesh capital of Hyderabad today. But the track and field events of the multi-sport Games will commence only on Tuesday (28). Following the withdrawal of star woman sprinters Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Darsha from women's 200m and 400m respectively, Sri Lanka was to send only a seven-member team. But the addition of four new athletes has increased the strength of the Sri Lanka team to 11 members. The additional four slots for Sri Lanka was possible due to Sri Lanka Athletic Association's (AASL) good relationship with the hosts India. There had been a few extra entries vacant and the Indian key athletic official - Suresh Kalmadi, the working chairman of the Afro-Asian Games organising committee has given preference to Sri Lanka. Kalmadi has been in touch with the AASL Secretary Prema Pinnawale to inform that four more entries from Sri Lanka could be accommodated to represent the Asian continent. Accordingly, Sri Lanka's national selectors yesterday added two male middle distance runners, a female competitor for walkathon and a male competitor for steeplechase to make it a 11-member Sri Lanka team. The eleventh hour entrants from Sri Lanka for the Afro-Asian Games are Nishantha Wijekoon, Sunil Jayaweera (both for men's 1,500m), Shantha Mendis (men's 3,000m steeple chase) and O.Nandani (women's 20km walk). Thus, Sri Lanka will have seven athletes taking part at individual events, plus its men's 4 x 400m relay team. Besides the four new entries, the other three Lankans competing at individual events are Sugath Tillakaratne (men's 400m), Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena (women's 5,000m) and Anne Maheshi Silva (women's javelin throw). Newly-wedded Tillakaratne is the most senior of the 11 athletes on tour. Following the pull out of the experienced members of last month gold medal winning Asian Championship men'' 4 x 400m relay team, Sri Lanka was forced to field a makeshift side. But the national selectors are making use of the opportunity to groom future material by fielding a relatively young team which has schoolboys Dimuth Perera (St.Peter's College, Colombo), Namal Bandara (Kingswood College, Kandy), Manoj Pushpakumara (Ratnayake MV, Walala) and Sri Lanka Army's Bandula Pushpakumara - all under 20 years of age. The athletic events of the Afro-Asian Games will be worked off at GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Gachibowli. It will also be the venue for today's grand opening ceremony scheduled to commence at 5.30 pm SL time. The 30,000 capacity ultra modern stadium comprise with 8 line competition synthetic athletic track and 4-line synthetic practice track. It has the latest high-mast lighting for day-night competitions. Besides the main stadium, the other venues hosting the Games are Balayogi Athletic Stadium, Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad Central University shooting range, Aquatic GMC Complex at Balayogi Stadium, Fatehmaiden Tennis Complex, Kotla Vijayabhask Indoor Stadium and Gachibowli Hockey stadium. The Games will have eight disciplines. Besides athletics, the other sports on the cards are boxing, football, hockey, shooting, swimming, tennis and weightlfting. Sri Lanka team for the Afro-Asian Games: Sugath Tillakaratne (men's 400m), Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena (women's 5,000m), Anne Maheshi Silva (women's javelin throw), Dimuth Perera, Namal Bandara, Manoj Pushpakumara, Bandula Pushpakumara (all for men's 4 x 400m), Nishantha Wijekoon, Sunil Jayaweera (both for men's 1,500m), Shantha Mendis (men's 3,000m steeple chase), O.Nandani (women's 20km walk), Lakshman de Alwis (National coach). |
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