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Susanthika storms into Olympic ‘semis’

Veteran Sri Lanka woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe proved that she has not lost her old touch when she stormed into the semi finals of the women’s 200m dash on day 11 of the XX1Xth Olympic Games here today.

The 32-year-old Sydney Olympic bronze medallist and last year’s IAAF World Championship medallist in Osaka finished third with a timing of 22.94 seconds in her quarter final heat.

Running in lane six of the second quarter final, flanked by former World Championship bronze medallist Muriel Hurtis-Houairi of France (lane 5) and Roqaya Al-Gasasra of Bahrain (lane 7), Jayasinghe had an advantage of making a calculated sprint to make sure that she is in the last 16 for Wednesday’s semis.

Of all eight runners, Jayasinghe had the slowest reaction time to take an unimpressive start. But she recovered quickly to follow Al-Gasasra and Hurtis-Houairi who finished first and second clocking 22.76 seconds and 22.89 respectively.

“I did a calculated run just to make sure that I will be there for the next round. There are a few sprinters who have done better than me and I should not run all out and make an undue competition at this stage,” the Lankan sprint queen said after making it to her second Olympic semi final.

Jayasinghe, who rewrote Sri Lanka’s Olympic history, winning her country’s first medal in 52 years at the Sydney 2000 Games, said her aim is to make it to Thursday’s final.

“I have a harmless dream of making it to the last eight. I want to be there in the final. Today, I could not run well.

It was not my normal run and weather conditions too would have contributed. But that’s no excuse and I will make every effort to make it to the final and make my country proud,” the celebrated Lankan woman sprinter said.

All three world class medals that Jayasinghe has won in her pet events have come when hardly any people put their bets on her - silver at the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athens, bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and another bronze at 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka. Hence, Jayasinghe is a dark horse who is still capable of springing a surprise here.

However, she will have to come out with a vastly improved performance to make a booking for Thursday’s flood-lit final at the Bird’s Nest.

Of all four quarter finalists, Jamaican Sherone Simpson, who won the fourth race, had the best timing of 22.60. The second best timing came from Russian Yuiyana Chermoshanskaya (22.63).

Jamaican Veronica Campbell (22.64) won the first quarter final, ahead of back to back World Championship gold medallist Allyson Felix (22.74) of USA and Debbie Ferguson of Bahamas (22.77).

Earlier in the morning, Jayasinghe clocked 22.04 second to finish second in qualifying round heat one to advance to the last 32. She came two hundredth of a second behind American Allyson Felix who won in 23.04 second.

The race went on a relatively on a low pace as top athletes did not want to burn extra energy and merely ran to qualify for the quarters.

However, the best timing out of 48 women sprinters who took part in six women’s 200m first round heats was recorded by American Muna Lee, who won the second of the six heats.

The 26-year-old Texas lass, who finished only seventh at the last Olympic Games, clocked an impressive 22.71 seconds - much better than her 22.87 seconds performance in Athens four years ago.

The second best timing amongst all too was registered in heat two as former World Championship bronze medallist clocked 22.72 seconds to secure the second place in her particular heat.

Jayasinghe will now run in the first semi final of the women’s 200m on Wednesday night at 9.55 p.m. - 7.25 p.m. SL time. The sprinters down to run in the semi (in lane order from lane 2 onwards) are Roxana Dias (Cuba - season’s best 22.80), Natalia Pygyda (Ukraine - 22.91), Muna Lee (USA - 22.30), Veronica Campbell (Jamaica - 21.94), Jayasinghe (22.73), Chermoshanskaya (Russia - 22.63), Kerron Stewart (Jamaica - 21.99) and Ferguson (Bahamas - 22.49).

The final is scheduled for Thursday at 7.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. SL time.

USA -China Beach Volleyball final

Defending Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the USA will meet China’s duo of Tian Jia and Wang Jie in the final of the women’s beach volleyball competition of the Beijing Olympiad at Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground on Thursday.

The Americans advanced to the final with a 21-12, 21-14 victory over sixth seeded Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil. On their way to the final, the Chinese pair had the better of team mates Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, who were ranked No.4.

Both the USA and Brazil teams went to the semis with an unbeaten record. But the US pair, who had posted 12 straight wins in a row in Olympic matches since Athens Olympics, looked too strong for the Brazilians.

The other semifinal match, staged between the two Chinese teams, was close and intense. Top-seeded Tian and Wang came back from one set down to win the next two in one hour and 14 minutes.

In the first set, Wang and Tian got two set points first, but were unable to put away their young, determined compatriots, who won 24-22. The second set again was played in a seesawing fashion, with Wang and Tian narrowly taking the win, 29-27.

Top-seeded Wang and Tian started to show their strength in the tie-breaker, winning the set by a larger margin than the previous two, 15-8.

BEIJING, Tuesday.

 

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