|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 11 August 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Sports | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Manjula Kumara bright prospect Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece ATHENS, Tuesday. - Manjula Kumara Wijesekera remains the brightest Sri Lankan prospect for a place in the finals after the shock pull out of Susanthika Jayasinghe at the Athens Olympic games here. Wijesekera is due to arrive here on Thursday after failing to make it with the Sri Lanka contingent which arrived here last evening. The champion Lankan high jumper did not get his official accreditation card, which is the official visa document, on time The lad from down south is due to compete in men's high jump qualifying round to be worked off on August 20 morning at the Main Olympic Stadium. He needs to clear 2.27m to make it to the finals and become only the fourth Sri Lankan athlete to make it to a final of an Olympic Games after Duncan White, Nagalingam Edirveerasingam and Jayasinghe. Meanwhile, controversial woman sprinter and the overall captain of the Sri Lanka contingent Jayasinghe put the blame on officials for not taking good care of her lead up to Athens Olympics. She also added that leg injury would not have aggravated if she had got proper medical attention. She blamed doctors for not treating and properly attending to her injury. "If the doctors had taken good care of my injury, the things would have been different. I feel very sad that I had to come here just as a spectator. Tears came to my eyes when I left home, there was not the usual joy and frame of mind," she said. Jayasinghe said she has no faith in western medicine and would now look forward to indigenous medicine to put her injured leg back in perfect shape. She vowed to make a comeback by early next year. The doctors have recommended at least four month's rest to heel her fractured right chinbone. With the withdrawal of Jayasinghe, only four athletes from Sri Lanka would be seen in action at the Athens Olympiad. The first Lankan athlete to be seen in action is Wijesekera in men's high jump qualifying round on August 20th morning. On the same night, sprinter Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando will run in the qualifying round of men's 200m. Asian Games triple gold medalist Damayanthi Darsha will run in women's 400m first round heats on August 21st morning and Anuradha Indrajith Cooray's men's marathon has been fixed for August 29. As stated in these columns on Monday, the first Sri Lankan competitor to be seen in action would be shooter Pushpamali Ramanayake in women's 10m air rifle qualification on August 14. The two Sri Lankan swimmers down to be seen in action at the Main Olympic pool are Conrad Francis in men's butterfly stroke heats on August 19 morning and Menaka de`Silva in women's 50m freestyle heats on August 20 morning. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
