SRI LANKA OLYMPIC REVIEW:

Groom medal prospects in a meaningful manner Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from China

The XX1Xth edition of the summer Olympiad has now become the latest chapter in the 112-year-old history of the modern Olympic Games.

As the Sri Lanka contingent returns home empty handed, it is time to take stock of what went wrong for us and prepare for the future.

Eight sportsmen and women represented Sri Lanka in six disciplines at the 204-nation Games concluded here in the Chinese capital on Sunday.

As usual, the selection of the contingent was delayed until the eleventh hour as aquatic sports officials and the Sports Ministry battled it out to decide on the two wild card entry slots awarded to Sri Lanka.

Though the NAASU nominated names of Daniel Lee and Mayumi Raheem to the FINA, the Sports Ministry was emphasising on having a trial until the last minute. Though Raheem richly deserved a place in the Olympic contingent, having won a record ten medals at the last South Asian Games including three gold medals, pressure was brought by interested parties to include a female from Kandy at the expense of the Singapore based teenager who has a track record.

The only two bright spots by the Lankan Olympians in Beijing was star woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe’s passage to the semi finals of the women’s 200m and weightlifter Chinthana Vidanage’s three new Sri Lanka records to finish on top of his Group in the men’s 69kg category.

True that Jayasinghe is ageing and is on the final lap of her distinguish sporting career which has brought glory to Sri Lanka over the past 15 years. Yet, she made it to the last as the oldest woman sprinter in her pet event.

Unfortunately Jayasinghe was not at her brilliant best, having suffered a injury midway during her training in the United Status. Nevertheless, she beat all odds to reach the semi, which was indeed a creditable feat for a sprinter who has been in the international arena for 15 successive years.

Jayasinghe clocked 23.04 seconds to finish second in her first round heat one which was won by American Allyson Felix (23.02). The Lankan lass finished third (22.94) in her quarter final heat two behind Bahrain’s Raqaya Al Ghassara (22.76) and France’s Muriel Hurtis (22.89).

But in the first semi final of the women’s 200m, Jayasinghe secured only the seventh place with an impressive timing of 22.98. This race was won by Jamaican Veronica Campbell with a timing of 22.18 seconds. But in the final Campbell, the defending gold medallist ran an impressive 21.74 to retain the title.

Swimmer Daniel Lee, who was preferred ahead of youngster Heashan Unamboowe, painted a poor picture. He managed to secure only the fifth place (24.94 seconds) in his men’s 50m Freestyle first round heat 6 which was won by Nigerian Yellow Yei Yah (24.00). The gold medal of the event was won by Brazilian Ceser Cielo Filho who clocked 21.30 seconds to establish a new Olympic record.

Teenager Raheem’s participation should be an investment for the future.

She finished fourth (one minute and 15.33 seconds) in her women’s 100m breast stroke qualifying heat one which was won by Yekatrina Sadovnik of Kazakhstan (1 mt, 11.14) but the eventual gold medallist was Australian Leisel Jones (1 mt, 05.17) who broke the existing Olympic record.

Weightlifter Vidanage who has only a months time to train after recovering from injury fared reasonably well. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist had a snatch lift of 128kg, clean and jerk 165kg to total 293 kg to finish on top of his Group C.

His all three lifts were new Sri Lanka records in men’s 69kg category but he eventually finished 16th. The gold medal of the event was won by Chinese Hui Liao who had a snatch lift of 158kg and a clean and jerk performance of 190kg to total an impressive 348kg.

Javelin thrower Nadeeka Lakmali, who created history by becoming the first Lankan woman athlete to compete at Olympics in a field event, fared resonably well. Considering the fact that she was all by herself without the services of her coach for a mega event of this nature, the woman soldier’s performance of 54.28m should be appreciated. The gold medallist of the event was Barbara Spotakova of Czech republic, who cleared 71.42m.

She was only the second woman ever to break the 70m barrier.

Young Tilin Jayasinghe, who became the first ever woman shuttler from Sri Lanka to compete at the Olympics, too should be encouraged to make the best use of her exposure in the big league. She was beaten by China’s Nqoc Nquven Le in straight sets 13-21, 12-21 in her women’s singles qualifying round game.

But the biggest disappointment was boxer Anuruddha Ratnayake of whom much was expected.

Poor Ratnayake was under tremendous pressure on his Olympic debut as he was highly overrated. Ratnayake was beaten by Brazilian Robenilson Vieira 13-3 in his men’s 51kg flyweight qualifying round bout. The men’s flyweight crown was won by Thailand’s Somjit Jongjohor who out pointed Cuban Andris Laffita 8-2 to win the gold.

Nevertheless, his presence at the Olympic ring was definitely a big boost and inspiration for Lankan boxing.

Shooter Edirisinghe Senanayake too painted a poor Picture. But it is unfair to put the blame on the poor lad. It is the duty of the officials to give him enough international exposire and training.

He was placed last with a score of only 586 out of 48 shooters who took part in the qualifying round of men’s 10m air pistol event, of which the gold medal was won by Chinese Wenjun Guo with a new Olympic record total of 692.3 points.

Then in the men’s 50m free pistol event, Senanayake fared slightly better to secure the 36th position out of 45 men who fired in the qualifying round. The gold medal of the event went to South Korean Jong Oh Jin who totalled 660.4 points to secure the top spot.

Edirisinghe is a talented pistol shooter who should be a good prospect for future international meets. But to get the best out of the soldier, we should groom him systematically with sufficent international competitions.

Overall, time is now opportunes for Sri Lanka to think twice when they make preparations for mega events such as the Olympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games. We should always afford international competition experience.

But sportsmen and women identified for these events should be groomed carefully with sufficent international training and competition experience. At least at this very late stage, we must stop picking contingents in the eleventh hour and send them for the sake of participating.

We should always make our presence at Olympic level but will have to make such preparations in a more systematic and meaningful manner. Unless we do that as a consistent project with an Olympic super pool with all facilities, an Olympic medal would continue to be a dream for a few more decades. BEIJING, Tuesday.