Lankan shuttlers, paddlers in rd. 2

GAMES: Sri Lanka registered several first round wins in badminton and table tennis while their star athlete Damayanthi Darsha will run in the women's 200m heat at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Sri Lanka's badminton and table tennis players registered several victories in their first round qualifying round matches played yesterday.

Sri Lanka's Thilina Piyadasa, Gihan Liyanage, Pitiyage Silva and Deepika Rodrigo won their respective round one matches of the table tennis competition.

Piyadasa was in fine form in registering a smashing four sets to nil win over Joseph Carrington of St.Vincent 11-3, 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 in men's first round matches. He will now play Trinidadian Reza Bruke in round two today.

Liyanage survived an exciting six-setter to edge out Khaleel Asgarali by four sets to two 11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7. He will now play Canadian Shen Qiang in today's round two matches. Pitiyage Silva had a smart four sets to nil win over Anderson Carrington of Anguilla 11-4, 11-8, 11-8, 11-7 to advance to the second round of men's singles.

In the first round matches of women's TT singles, experienced Sri Lanka star Deepika Rodrigo beat Mbalose Chirwa of St.Vincent 11-1, 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 and will now meet Canadian Han Xu today's round two.

However, Sri Lanka's Ishara Manikka Babu and Ruhansi Wijekoon lost their first round matches in table tennis competition. Babu lost both her first round matches by 3-4 and 0-4 while Wijekoon went down to Sharu Knubley (MRI) by one set to four.

Sri Lanka shuttlers had a victorious day as they won their respective first round matches.

Dinuka Karunaratne beat Edwin Ekring (MRI) 21-17, 21-17 and qualified to play South African Christoffel Dednam in today's men's singles pre-quarter finals.

Brinsley Kariyapperuma overcame Fijian Ghee Ming Fong 21-4, 21-4 to play Singaporean Hendra in today's second round matches.

In the women's singles matches, Thilini Jayasinghe had the better of Nekeisha Blake of Trinidad 21-3, 21-3 and will now take on Indian Saina Nehwal in today's pre-quarters.

Meanwhile, three-time Asian Games gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha, Sri Lanka's best bet in track events, will be seen in action today. She will run in heat one of women's 200m. This will be the first time that Darsha will be running in her former pet event of 200m after her triumph at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

With a career beat timing of 22.48 seconds and a season's best 23.21, the 31-year-old Lankan sprint queen will run in lane seven of heat one. But she is bound to face an acid test from Jamaican Sheron Simpson in lane four with a season's best timing of 22.54.

But the hot favourite for the women's 200m title is Athens Olympics gold medallist Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, who clocked 22.05 seconds in Greece. Campbell will run in heat two of today's women's 200m first round heats.

In the athletic competition which continued yesterday, England's Lisa Dobriskey proved her class in middle distance running. In a race that kept the stadium cheering from the start, Dobriskey came home to claim gold in the Women's 1500m.

Sarah Jamieson managed Australia's first ever medal in the event, nabbing silver behind Dobriskey's time of 4.06.21. Jamieson was boxed in behind the leader but managed to break free in the last stretch to claim silver in 4:06.64 seconds.

She came fifth at Manchester in the same event. Hayley Tullett from Wales, who was the fastest qualifier and the silver medallist in Manchester, came third in 4:06.76. In the Women's 10,000m Final, Kenyans Lucy Wangui Kabuu and Evelyne Wambui Nganga took gold and silver in a race where they led from the front. Wangui Kabuu won in a time of 31:29.66 closely followed by Wambui Nganga in 31:30.86.

Bronze was won by England's Mara Yamauchi who raced to medal contention with two laps to go after passing fourth placed Australian Benita Johnson.

In the Women's Triple Jump, Jamaica's Trecia Smith was looking to improve on her bronze medal in Manchester and did not disappoint, jumping an impressive 14.39m. England's Nadia Williams claimed silver and Nigerian Otonye Iworima was awarded the bronze.

Jamaican Maurice Wignall won the 110m Hurdles Final in a time of 13.26, improving on the bronze he won in the same event at the 2002 Games.

Scotland's Chris Baillie won the silver in a time of 13.61 and England's Andrew Turner claimed the bronze. The Men's Decathlon has been won by Englishman Dean Macey who had first place in the Pole Vault, High Jump, and Shot Put. Silver was won by Jamaica's Maurice Smith and bronze went to Australian Jason Dudley in a personal best performance.

The Men's 400m Semi-Finals have been run with the top three sprints recorded by Australian John Steffensen in a personal best of 45.04, Christopher Brown from the Bahamas in 45.24 and Jamaican Lansford Spence in 45.32.

On the last night of competition in the Commonwealth Games pool, Wales staked its claim on an Australian icon by winning gold in the Men's 1500m Freestyle. David Davies held his position from the outset to swim under 15 minutes in 14:57.63.

Andrew Hurd from Canada touched second in 15:09.44 and South Africa's Hercules Prinsloo finished in 15:11.88 to take bronze. Australia has owned the 1500m since 1958 when John Konrads won the event in Cardiff. The Games record still stands at 14:41.66, set by Australia's Kieren Perkins in 1994.

Regardless, the crowd acknowledged the Welshman's classy performance. The night finished with Australia, England and Scotland going one, two and three in the 4x100m Medley Relay. Setting another Games record of 3:34.37, the winning team of Matt Welsh, Brenton Rickard, Michael Klim and Eamon Sullivan defended Manchester title.

Rickard swam a strong Breaststroke and Klim's Butterfly was aggressive and determined.