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| Saturday, 26 June 2004 |
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Thai Grand Prix summary and review: Sri Lankan athletes enjoy mixed fortunes by Dinesh Weerawansa reporting Sri Lankan athletes enjoyed mixed fortunes at the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix 2004, worked off in Songkla, Thailand. Only Susanthika Jayasinghe and Rohan Pradeep Kumara lived up to expectations while much fancied men's 4 x 400m relay team was pushed to the fourth place due to absence of injured Sugath Tillakaratne. Damayanthi Darsha's return to international track after being in the wilderness for an year due to a lag injury was not just what she would have wished. Since striking the 1998 Asian Games gold, also in Thailand six years ago, Darsha has been unstoppable and was the undisputed champion in Asia. She underlined this with her back to back 400m gold at the Busan Asian Games in Korea last year. But Darsha's dominance was broken in Songkla. Not only she was beaten but was pushed to the third place by Svetlana Bodritskaya, (Kazakhstan - 52.15) and Sathi Geeta, (India - 52.71). Darsha, who managed to clock just 52.82 second, however, is sure to bounce back in Colombo on Sunday. An injury to experienced Tillakaratne during a training session could be a decisive factor for Sri Lanka's men's 4 x 400m relay team, which was beaten by India. In fact, the Indians kept their Olympic dream alive by winning both men's and women's 400m relays. India made a strategically move by preserving their trump cards for the relay - P. Ramachandran, Manoj Lal and Bhupinder Singh. They added salt to Sri Lanka's injury worries to clock three minutes and 3.15 seconds, pushing Sri Lanka to the second place. The Indian women did even better by registering their best timing in two years - three minutes and 29.53 seconds by Manjit Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Chitra K. Soman and K. M. Beenamol. That timing looks well set to put India in the semi-finals of the forthcoming Olympic Games. Among the star class performance in the Asian circuit was Iranian Abbas Samimi. He threw to a career-best 64.17m humble Asian champion Wu Tao of China in the men's discus throw. Samimi, who finished second to the Chinese at the recent Asian Championship, finally took revenge. Samimi's feat was also an Iranian national mark, beating his feat of 62.60 at last year's Asian Grand Prix. Absence of galaxy of Arabian star sprinters made it relatively easy for Sri Lanka's Rohan Pardeep Kumara Fernando in men's 400m final. His moderate timing of 45.83 seconds was good enough to earm him the first place in a lifeless race. His closest rival - Indian P. Shankar clocked an unimpressive 47.32. Had Sri Lanka's Sugath Tillakaratne got an opportunity to run in this race, he would have easily secured the second place, if not first. Jayasinghe's timing of 23.42 seconds in winning women's 200m was not good enough for her to earn a place at Olympics in her pet event. Hence, Jayasinghe will be under pressure in the two remaining legs to book a place in her pet event, which brought her fortunes at the 1997 IAAF World Championships and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Thai lass - Tracia Roberts, who made a clean sweep in women's 100m hurdles in 2003 Asian Grand Prix Series, could not prove her might before home crowd. She clocked an unimpressive 13.67 seconds to finish third behind two Chinese girls - Feng Yun, (13.01) and Su Yuping, (13.46). Sri Lanka's Sriyani Kulawansa, who finished second in all four meets of last year's Grand Prix series, retired from athletics last week and her absence was badly felt by the Lankan team. Results: Men: 100m: 1.Yahya H.I. Habeeb (KSA), 10.41 sec, 2, Gennadiy Chernovol (KAZ) 10.42. 3, Ekkachai Janthana (THA), 10.55. 200m: 1, Yang Yaozu (CHN) 21.10 sec, 2. P. Anil Kumar (IND), 21.25. 3, Sitthichai Suwornpratheep (THA), 21.29. 400m: 1, Rohan Pradeep Kumara (SRI), 45.83 sec. 2, P.Shankar, (IND), 47.32. 3, Khalid B.Salem, (KSA), 47.41. 1500m: 1, Salah F.E. Fadallah, (KSA), 3mts & 44.75 sec,. 2, Sajad Moradi, Iran, 3:46.77. 3, Chaminda Wijekoon, (SRI), 3: 50.09. 4x100m: 1. Thailand 39.55sec. 2. India 39.91. 3. Saudi Arabia 39.97. 4x400m: 1. India. 3.03.15, 2. Sri Lanka 3.05.08. 3. Thailand 3.11.13. Triple Jump: 1, Gu Junjie (CHN), 16.54 m. 2, Rasheed Al-Rumani, (KSA), 16.49. 3, Muhammad Hazoiuri (SYR), 16.40. High Jump: 1, Jean Claude Rabbath (LIB) 2.23m, 2, Yuriy Pakhiyayev, (KAZ), 2.23. 3, Cui Kai, (CHN), 2.21. Shot Putt: 1, Navpreet Singh, (IND), 18.47m, 2, Ahmad Gholourm (KUW), 18.32. 3, Sarayudh Pinitjit, (THA), 17.07. Discus Throw: 1, Abbas Saimimi (IRI) 64.17m; 2, Wu Tao (CHN) 63.62. 3, Sultan M.M. Al-Dawodi, (KSA), 58.98. Women: 100m: 1, Lyubov Perepelova, (UZB), 11.25 sec. 2, Guzel Khubbieva, (UZB), 11.26. 3, Juthamas Thavorncharoen, (THA), 11.55. 200m: 1, Susanthika Jayasinghe, (SRI), 23.42sec . 2, Guzel Khubbieva, (UZB), 23.44. 3, Lyubov Perepelova, (UZB), 23.53. 400m: 1, Svetlana Bodritskaya, (KAZ), 52.15 sec. 2, S. Geeta, (IND), 52.71. 3, Damayanthi Darsha, (SRI), 52.82. 1500m: 1, Tatiana Borisova ( KGZ), 4mts & 11.62 sec , 2, Syetlana Lukasheva, (KAZ) 4.18.14. 3, Buatip Boonprasert (THA), 5.15.49. 4x100m: 1. Thailand 44.10 sec. 2, Japan, 44.23. 3. China 45.13. 4x400m: 1. India 3mts & 29.53 sec, 2. Kazakhstan 3.41.01. 3. Thailand 3.41.88. 100m Hurdles: 1, Feng Yun, (CHN), 13.01 sec. 2, Su Yuping, (CHN), 13.46. 3, Trecia Roberts, (THA), 13.67. Long Jump: 1, J.J. Shoba, (IND) 6.50 m. 2. Anastasia Juraleva, (UZB), 6.48. 3, Yelena Kashcheyeva (KAZ), 6.46. Shot Putt: 1, Li Meiju (CHN), 18.47 m. 2, Zhang Guirong (SIN) 17.93. 3, Du Xianhui (SIN). Discus Throw: 1. Li Yanfeng (CHN), 64.34m, 2. Neelam J. Singh, (IND), 63.99. 3. Xu Shaoyang (CHN) 60.32. 17.05. |
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