Darsha, Shivantha run today

Sampath Bandara reporting from Australia

GAMES: Sri Lanka's Damayanthi Darsha and Shivantha Weerasuriya will run in 200m women's and men's first round heats of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne today.

Darsha will run in the first of the four women's 200m first round heats scheduled for 10.25 am Australian time. Her season's best timing is 23.21 seconds and will face a touch competition with Jamaican Sharone Simpson.

The first three of each heat and the four fastest timing among the rest would qualify for the semi finals of women's 200m. Considering the performances of Darsha, she should be able to make it to the last 16.

At 11.05 am local time in Melbourne, Sri Lanka sprinter Weerasuriya will run in the first round qualifiers of men's 200m. Among the others to be seen in action today are Sri Lanka's Shantha Sirimanne in men's 200m wheelchair race.

Sri Lanka's Thilina Piyadasa and Deepika Rodrigo won their respective men's and women's singles first round heats in table tennis. In badminton, Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratnne beat Matthew Hughs of Wales in their 64th round match. Thilini Jayasinghe beat a female competitor from Trinidad.