Six Lankan athletes come out to race today

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from Qatar

ASIAN GAMES: Sri Lanka, after its series of failures in 18 disciplines, are set to play their trump cards when the main track and field competition begins at the Khalifa Stadium, Doha here on Friday. A total of six Lankans will be seen in action in five events.

Joining Sri Lanka's brightest medal prospects at the 15th Asian Games in Qatar - Susanthika Jayasinghe, Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando and Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera, would be South Asia's fastest man this seaosn Umanga Surendra, middle distance runner Chaminda Wijekoon and long jumper Nayana Prasad Dharmaratne.

The first Lankan athlete to be seen in action on Friday would be South Asian Games silver medallist Dharmaratne, who is drawn in heat two commencing at 9.20 a.m. (11.50 am SL time).

Soldier Wijekoon, who will compete in the men's 1,500m first round heat one, will come in out next. With a personal best of 3:43.82, the Colombo 2006 silver medallist will run in four.

"I have been training hard. But the competition level here is high. However, I will make every effort to do well and better my personal best," said Wijekoon.

Wijekoon is expected to face a stiff challenge from Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain (PB: 3:29.14) on lane five and Fumikasu Kobayashi of Japan (PB: 3:37.42) on lane six.

Of all 19 competitors in the two heats, of which the first four in each heat and the next four fastest would advance to the final, Ramzi has the best personal and season's best timings.

Sri Lanka's best bet for the day will come in women's 100m in which Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe will be running. She is the defending Asian Games women's 100m champion, having bagged the gold in Busan, four years ago.

The 31-year-old veteran Lankan woman sprinter will run in lane three of the heat three, scheduled to commence at 5.12 p.m local time (7.42 p.m. SL time).

But Jayasinghe has a relatively unimpressive season's best of 11.33 seconds while Turkmenistan's Valenthina Nazarova, in heat two, has equalled Jayasinghe's personal best of 11.04, during the 2006 season. Bahrain's Ruqaya Al Ghasara, with a season's best 11.34, too could look dangerous among the 21 competitors in three women's 100m first round heats.

"As I have told you before, I'm here to run. Not to make excuses. I could not train much today due to bad weather but that's part of the sport. I still have my gold hope alive. Watch out for me, I am going to make my country proud," a determined Jayasinghe said at the Athletes' Village.

Besides women's 100m and 200m events, Sri Lanka's best medal hopes lies on men's 400m and 4 x 400m events.

Two of Sri Lanka's champion sprinters Rohan Pradeep and Prasanna Amarasekera will be seen in action in Friday's men's 400m heats. Rohan Pradeep has the best season's best timing of 45.68 amongst the seven sprinters drawn in heat one.

But the real challenge would come from Brendon Allan Simpson of Bahrain (SB: 44.64) in heat two and Yuzo Kanemaru of Japan (SB: 45.41). Amarasekera will run in heat three.

"It's a tough challenge. But our duty is to make every effort to do well. I am here to do that Whatever the result would be, I will try my heart out," said Amarasekera after his final indoor work out.

Sri Lanka's 100m golden boy at South Asian Games - Umanga Surendra, will compete in men's 100m first round heat three on Friday.

Among the top contenders lined up for the four heats are Yuan Kai Liu (Taiwan - 10.29), Shigeyuki Kojima (Japan - 10.20), Yongyi Wen (China - 10.30), Nayoki Tsukahara (Japan - 10.25), Kai Hu (China - 10.28) and Khalid Al Obaidli (Qatar - 10.31).

The much looked forward to athletic competition of the 44-nation Games began here on Thursday with the men's and women's 20km walks, the only two events lined up for day one.

Sri Lanka's Geetha Nandani Galage was a big disappointment as she finished last among the seven competitors who came under the starter's orders this morning. The 28-year-old Lankan lass clocked one hour, 51 minutes and 41 seconds to finish last - more than 19 minutes behind the overall winner.

"It was a hard time. The weather conditions were not the ideal. The competition level here is too high. Unfortunately, I could not fare well," she said after the finish.

China's Hong Liu (1:32.19) and Dan He (1:34.24) won the gold and bronze while Japanese Ryoko Sakakura (1:33.19) came exactly one minute behind the winner to settle for the silver.

It was a double success for China as they won the men's gold in 20km walk as well. Han Yucheng made light of tricky road conditions to win the first athletics gold of the Doha Games.

The 27 year-old from Beijing clocked one hour, 21 minutes and 41 seconds to finish 1 minute 31 seconds ahead of South Korean Kim Hyun-Sub, who accounted for his country's first-ever Asian Games walking medal.

Kim overtook Japan's Koichiro Morioka late on to take silver with Morioka five seconds further behind.

Han, the 2003 Asian champion, led throughout but was disappointed to finish nearly four minutes outside the Asian record.

"Before the Games I wanted to set a new Asian Games record but I didn't," he said. "I felt good but not relaxed. I was tense. This is the first time I have competed in a major race as the only Chinese athlete, so I had to control the race by myself.

"It was a challenge. I had to compete by myself, no one could help me. The rain was so heavy I couldn't open my eyes. It also affected my rhythm."

Kim was delighted with silver and said: "I'm very happy to win this medal for Korea. It's the first medal we have won in walking races at the Asian Games," he said.

DOHA, Thursday.