Susanthika, Nadeeka in action tomorrow

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from china

Sri Lanka’s only remaining hopes at the XX1Xth Olympic Games - sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe and javelin thrower Nadeeka Lakmali, will come out for the first time at the Bird’s Nest here in the Chinese capital on Tuesday.

Jayasinghe looked cheerful and determined as she had another round of work outs this morning. Under the watchful eyes of her American coach Tony Campbell and Sri Lanka Athletic Manager Dhammika Nandakumara, the 32-year-old former Olympic medallist worked hard at the practice venue as she prepared for her pet event.

A total of 52 top women sprinters in the world will vie for honours in women’s 200m which has six first round heats, starting from 10.40 a.m.

(8.10 a.m. SL time) on Tuesday at the National Stadium, better known as the Bird’s Nest due to its innovative shape of a nest.

The Lankan sprint queen has only clocked a season’s best timing of 22.73 seconds, though she has a qualifying timing of 22.55 seconds registered last year. But Jasinghe’s personal best had been recorded eight years ago when she bagged the women’s 200m bronze at the Sydney Olympics - 22.28 seconds.

“It is going to be an acid test. There are several woman athletes doing 200m under 22.2 but I don’t care about those. Right now, I am focusing on my first round heat and my initial target is to advance to the next round,” she said after her morning workout.

The celebrated woman sprinter, who surprised home crowds with her second IAAF World Championship medal in Osaka last year, said the road to success should be step by step. “Let’s see how it goes. Step by step up in the ladder. I will take race by race and plan accordingly,” a determined Jayasinghe said.

The front runners for the women’s 200m gold in the pre-event predictions are Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart - the only women to run women’s 200m under 22 seconds this season.

Campbell, the defending Olympic champion, did that twice this year - clocking 21.94 in Kingston in June and 21.98 in Barcelona a month later. Compatriot Stewart ran a 21.99 to finish behind Campbell at the Kingston meet on June 29.

It was the Jamaicans who have clocked the top five fastest women’s 200m timings this season. Beside Campbell and Stewart, Sherone Simpson ran a blistering 21.11 to finish third at the Kingston meet while Shelly-Ann Fraser was the fourth at the dame meet in 22.15.

Amongst the other impressive timings recorded in women’s 200m this season belonged to American Allyson Felix (22.22), Jamaican Simone Facey (22.25) and American Porscha Lucas (22.29). If Sri Lanka’s Jayasinghe could regain her old form and run somewhere close to her personal best, she should find a place in Thursday’s women’s 200m final.

Romania takes women’s marathon gold

Romanian Constantina Tomescu won the women’s marathon gold of the Beijing Olympics in convincing style - in two hours 26.44 minutes today.

She was thrilled after taking a convincing lead at the end. “It was a great performance.

I’m really thrilled to win the gold. At the World Championships in Canada three years ago, everybody said I couldn’t run, but I showed today what I can do,” she said. “The gold medal, for me, it is great,” Tomescu added.

World champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya came in second, returning a timing of two hours 27.06 minutes, adding another silver to her success since Athens 2004. “I feel great, and feel good for the win. In fact, I’m very happy. Winning the silver in my second Olympics makes me feel great.

I can’t take that for granted,” she continued.

China’s Zhou Chunxiu, silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships, accounted for the bronze in two hours and 27.07 minutes, ahead of compatriot Zhu Xiaolin, who completed the event in two hours 27.16 minutes.

Shooting gold for China American Matthew Emmons, who shot the wrong target in the final of the men’s 50m rifle three positions at Athens Olympics and lost the gold medal, shot a terrible 4.4 on his last shot in the same event today and once again lost a gold medal which was well within his reach.

Emmons was completely off colour as China’s Qiu Jian picked up the goldwith a total score of 1272.5. Jury Sukhorukov of Ukraine won the silver with a tenth of a point less, and the bronze medal went to Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia with 1271.7. Emmons finished fourth.

After weather delays postponed Olympic sailing competition yesterday, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson from Great Britain won the first completed medal race of the Olympic Regatta today to win gold in the Yngling (women’s keelboat), the second consecutive Olympic gold for Great Britain in the boat class.

The British team finished with 24 overall points, while the Netherlands finished second with 33 points overall, Greece won bronze with 48 points.

Football semifinalists found

Brazil, Belgium, Argentina and Nigeria entered the semi finals of the Olympic soccer tournament. In Tuesday’s semi finals, Nigeria will play Belgium at the Shanhai Stadium while Argentina takes on Brazil at the Workers’ Stadium.

There was another shock in the quarter finals of the Olympic football tournament. Despite losing a man early, Belgium came back from behind to edge out Italy by three goals to two and advance to the semi finals. In another quarterfinal, Brazil’s extra-time goals helped it defeat Cameroon and secure another semi final slot.

Belgium was not considered a strong medal contender before the match.

Beijing 2008 is the first time that the team has qualified for the Olympics in 80 years.

However, Belgium’s three goals tonight show why it needs to be taken seriously. It was Italy who emerged more dangerous in the opening minutes. In the sixth minute, Giuseppe Rossi failed to turn in a pinpoint cross from Riccardo Montolivo.

Belgium’s Thomas Vermaelen received a red card for holding Italy’s Robert Acquafresca in the 18th minute.

Rossi took the resulting penalty kick, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way before calmly scoring a goal.

As the clocked ticked into injury time, Belgium scored again to double the lead.

Kevin Mirallas latched onto a cross, controlled the ball with one touch, and drove in a turnaround kick. Belgium took a 2-1 lead into the first half.

Italy launched a sweeping attack in the second half and had a chance to equalize the score. In the 57th minute, Italian forward Giuseppe Rossi fell down after an altercation with the Belgian goalkeeper Logan Bailly, but received a yellow card for diving. However, slow-motion replays indicated that Bailly grabbed hold of Rossi’s leg.

Italy finally received its second penalty kick 28 minutes into the second half after Paolo De Ceglie was pulled down at the edge of the penalty box.

Rossi converted the goal to tie the score at 2-2.

Belgium broke the tie only five minutes later. Dembele streaked down the midfield, shrugged off the Italian defenders and smashed a long-range shot into the net.

In the other two quarter finals of the Olympic soccer, Argentina beat the Netherland 2-1 in the extra time (the scores were tied one-all at half time and full time) while Nigeria beat Ivory Coast 2-0 with a goal in each half.

BEIJING, Sunday.