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| Wednesday, 7 April 2004 |
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Kulawansa's double gold increases Lanka's tally to 15 Bernard Perera reporting from Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Tuesday, Sri Lankan athletes participating in the 9th SAF Games here on the final day of the athletic championship went onto win three more gold medals in addition to two silver medals. First it was veteran woman hurdler Sriyani Kulawansa competing in the 100M hurdles won the event with a time of 13.37 secs. She was closely followed by India's K.N. Priya who clocked 13.84 secs. and the other Indian girl too finished the race in 13.88 secs. to take the silver and the bronze respectively. Sriyani was in fine fettle yesterday and got off to a perfect start and ripped through to the finish line in style. Although Sriyani did not reach her best time she said that she is confident of doing better to qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens next August. The 1500m event for men saw Lankan Chaminda Wijekoon complete the race in 3.44:85 secs. behind Pakistan's Ata Miran who clocked 3.43:40 to take the gold medal for the host country. India's Ghamanda Ram finished in 3.50:18 secs. and took the bronze. Chaminda was off in flash and kept a steady pace and got off to a 20 meter lead. He held on for nearly 1200 meters at which point the Pakistani who came from behind got ahead of him. The last 100 meters saw Chaminda give chase to catch the leader, but was unable to do so. If Chaminda kept a cool head to gauge the race he could have made it to the finish as the winner. The third event where Sri Lanka had luck was the 4x100 meters where Sriyani Kulawansa played vital role in winning the gold for Sri Lanka. Sriyani who competed in the 100 Meters hurdle an hour ago came back superbly to beat the Indian counterpart to second place. The baton change at the final lap was delayed a bit and Sriyani had to give everything she had to pull off the race in favour of her team. It was disclosed after the race that Sriyani was included in the quartet for the particular event in the eleventh hour and it paid dividends. The other runners who joined the relay was Achala Dias, Sujani Buddhika and Jani Chathurangani. The third gold came when from the men's quartet in 4x400m relay comprising Rohan Pradeep Kumar Prasanna Amarasekera, Ranga Wimalawansa and Sugath Tillekeratne. They completed the race in a time of 3.05:80 secs. Tillekeratne did the final lap. Rohan Pradeep who did the first run brought in a good lead making things easy for the other runners who followed. The 4x100 Men's relay was won by India when they clocked 39.91 secs. to go away with the gold medal, while the Sri Lankan team clocking 40.09 secs for the silver. They also lowered the Sri Lanka record. Pakistan won the bronze for the same event. In the women's 4x400 meter relay the Lankan women were placed second when they achieved a time of 3.44:12, while the winners India had a time of 3.33:40. The team comprised D.D. Pramila, Shanthi Irangani, K.Kusumawathi and Mangala Priyadharshani. None of the other competitors on the final day were not able to secure places in their respective events Javelin and Long Jump. Swimming: The swimming team comprising Menaka de Silva, Piumi Ekanayake, P. Madhavi Dharmadasa and Chathuri Abeykoon swam their way to win a bronze medal in the 4x100 Meters relay. They registered a time of 04.33:50. The winner India clocked 04. 10:10 ahead of Pakistan. A new Meet record was set up by Richa Mishra for the 100 Meter Butterfly event with a time of 01.05:82. Sri Lanka's M.S. Samarakoon was placed fourth in the event. Her time recorded was 01.13:29. |
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