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Three new Sri Lanka records by Chinthana Vidanage

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Chinthana Vidanage set three new Sri Lanka records to finish on top of Group C in the men's 69kg category of the weightlifting competition of the XX1Xth Olympic Games at the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium here on Monday.

Vidanage who bagged back to back gold medals at the 2006 South Asian Games in Colombo and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, gave some pride to the Lankan camp after shooter Edirisinghe Senanayake, shuttler Thilini Jayasinghe and swimmer Mayumi Raheem made first round exits in their respective events during the first three days of the 204-nation competition here in the Chinese capital.

Vidanage started his snatch lifts from 120kg and was successful with his lifts of 125kg and 128kg in the next two attempts. Though he originally planned to start his clean and jerk lifts from 155kg, he took a gamble to increase it by another five kilograms and started with a successful lift of 160kg.

He made no mistake with his second clean and jerk lift of 165kg. But he was off colour in his final attempt to lift 168kg, but by then the 26-year-old Lankan had taken an unbeatable lead in his Group C.

During his memorable performance at the Beijing Olympics, the champion lifter from Polonnaruwa established three new records. He bettered his own Sri Lanka record in men's 69kg snatch from 120kg to 128kg and also the total record from 280kg to 293kg. Vidanage held the clean and jerk

Sri Lanka record (158kg) until the recent National Sports Festival in Beliatta where fellow lifter Sudesh erased it (159kg). But here in Beijing, Vidanage regained that record in style with a neat clean and jerk lift of 165kg.

However, his final placing in the men's 69kg event would only depend on the performances of the other top lifters drawn in Groups A and B. But Vidanage feels his performance would be good enough to gain a place within the first 20 lifters of the world.

Vidanage was a happy man after his record breaking performance. "I never thought I could go this far as I had only one month's period to do some serious training. I was sick until late April and it was only after that I gradually started my training.

The champion Lankan lifter said he never thought he would make it to the Olympics. "I did not have any hopes of making it to the Olympics but I made it on the eleventh hour. Then I put all my effort and trained hard during last few weeks," he continued.

Vidanage said today's performance was a big inspiration for him. "I am looking forward to next year's World Championships as well as the 2010 Asian Games. I want to make my country proud once more," he added.

Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge was a keen spectator when Vidanage had his record lifts and was amongst the first to congratulate the lifter. It was nice to see swimmer Daniel Lee taking time off his busy training schedule and accompanying Vidanage. It was definitely a morale booster for Vidanage.

Two more Sri Lankans will be seen in action on day five of the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday - boxer Anuruddha Ratnayake and shooter Edirisinghe Senanayake. It will be a D-day for the Lankan camp as Ratnayake takes on Latin American silver medallist Robinson Vieira of Brazil in his men's 51kg flyweight first round bout.

Ratnayake looked a relaxed man on the eve of his crucial bout. "I have been working hard.

I had a good lead up for the meet with some overseas training and competition experience. But I know the things will not be that easy here I expect a big challenge from my rival. Yet, I am determined to face the challenge and box my heart out," a determined Ratnayake said.

Earlier on Tuesday, shooter Senanayake, who made a first round exit in men's 10m air pistol event, is due to fire in men's 50m free pistol event. "What happened in the 10m event is no history. I will forget that and concentrate on 50m event.

I want to gain my personal best score so that it would be an inspiration for me to do well in the future," the solder said.

There was something special for all South Asians to crow about as Indian Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle event today with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5. China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final.

The Finnish shooter shot a total of 699.4. Hakkinen shot 598 in the qualification round, giving him a one point lead over Zhu.

Bindra was one point further back with 596. Bindra signals his intentions early in the final, with a 10.7 on his first shot. None of Bindra's shots in the final dropped below 10.0. Hakkinen's performance in the final was solid, but it needed to be better.

He averaged 10.14 per shot in the final, compared to Bindra's 10.45. Going into the last shot, Bindra and Hakkinen were tied for first place, but Bindra secured the gold medal with his best shot of the final, an outstanding 10.8. Conversely, Hakkinen's last shot was his worst, a lowly 9.7.

This allowed Zhu to overcome Hakkinen and win the silver medal. Zhu shot 10.5 on his last shot.

Zhu will be disappointed that he did not become the first shooter to win two gold medals in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. However, he was unable to reproduce his best - Zhu holds the Olympic record for the final score in the event, the 702.7 that he shot at Athens 2004.

BEIJING, Monday

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