Mineka clinches a Gold in 50 metres Breast Stroke
Leslie FERNANDO reporting from Dhaka, Bangladesh
Breast Stroke specialist Mineka Karunaratne rose to the occasion to
win the first Gold in the swimming event of the 11th South Asian Games
held at the Swimming Complex, Mihirpur.
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Sri Lanka’s Miniruwani Samarakoon who won the Silver medal
in the 50 metres Butterfly event proudly shows off her
medal.
Picture by Prince Gunasekera |
Mineka blessed with a good and proper start in the 50 metres Breast
Stroke had a narrow lead from her closest rival Mahfuza Khatun of
Bangladesh, but Mineka touched first clocking 35:15 seconds. She won the
event in grand fashion improving her heats timing of 36:06. She swam in
the Lane Four in the finals.
A student of Colombo International School and national title holder
Mineka was delighted with the victory. She told the Daily News that she
was happy to win a Gold for Sri Lanka - her first in the South Asian
Games (she swam in 2006 Colombo Games). But added that the timing should
have been better to establish a new mark. “I will go flat out to win the
second Gold in my next event and also set a new record,” she expressed.
Sri Lanka swimmers had a very good day winning three more medals -
two Silver and one Bronze through Trinitian Heshan Unamboowe and Gateway
College, Kandy’s Miniruwani Samarakoon.
Heshan Unamboowe won the Silver in the 200 metres individual medley
with a time of 2:13:68 secs and a Bronze in the 100 metres Free Style
clocking 54:23 secs. Miniruwani Samarakoon grabbed the Silver in the 50
metres Butterfly. She finished the length 29:49 secs.
The other swimmers who swam for Sri Lanka were Shehani Dinal Mediwaka
(50 metres Breast Stroke) Chahansa Jayaratne (200 metres IM), Chanuka
Bandara Wickremesinghe (100 metres Free Style), Gihara Sachini
Amarasinghe (50 metres Butterfly) and Diluka Bandara Thibbotuwegama (200
metres Breast Stroke). They were not successful at their attempts.
Indian swimmer Sandeep Sajwal who won the Gold in the 200 metres
Breast Stroke 2:21:03 became the first swimmer to establish a record at
the South Asian Games swimming discipline. The previous timing was
2:27:12 secs. Swimming events will be continued today.
Shooting
Sri Lanka won a Bronze in the 10 metre Air Pistol team men’s went at
the shooting discipline of the 11th South Asian Games held at the
National Shooting Complex in Dhaka.
Lanka trio E.M. Senanayake (562), T.D.S. Fernando (560) and N.P.N.
Gunadasa (550) combined for 1,678 for the Bronze medal.
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Sri Lanka’s Heshan Unamboowe who won a Silver medal
in the 200 metres Individual Medley. Picture by Prince
Gunasekera |
Same three players won the Bronze medal in the 50 metre Pistol on
Thursday.
Shooter added two more Bronze in the 10 metres Air Pistol Individual
Men T.D.S. Fernando has a score of 662.2 points.
S.M.M. Samarakoon (586), V.M. Premalal (582) and W.N.D. Dharmasiri
(577) to total 1,745 to win a Bronze in the 50 metres Rifle team (men).
Cricket - massive win for Lankans
Skipper Ashan Priyanjana’s blistering unbeaten 92 (10 fours, two
sixes) and Thisara Perera’s bright 42 not out (one four, two sixes) saw
Sri Lanka to a massive 147 runs victory against Maldives in the Under-21
Twenty20 cricket match played in Mirpur.
Sri Lankans amassed a huge 220 runs losing three wickets in their
allotted 20 overs with Ashan Priyanjan and Thisara Perera involved in a
grand 100 runs unfinished partnership for fourth wicket Kusal Perera’s
contribution was 27.
Maldives managed only 73 for 5 in 20 overs due to accurate and on the
spot bowling of Sri Lankan pacies and spinners Angelo Perera returned
the best figures 2 for 6.
Sri Lanka: 220 for 3 (A. Priyanjana 92 n.o, Dilshan Munaweera 23, S.
Pathirana 29, Thisara Perera 42 n.o, K. Perera 27).
Maldives: 73 for 5 (I. Hussen 15, H. Ahmed 17, Angelo Perera 2 for
6).
Lankan Squash team win
Sri Lanka squash team edged out Bangladesh two matches to one in a
round robin game in the squash tournament played at Dhaka Club Squash
Court.
In the first match Eranga Alwis lost to Rajan Kumar 11-8, 11-09,
12-10 while Binura Jayasuriya and Naveen Samarasinghe won their match.
Binura defeated Masud Rana 11-5, 11-3, 13-11 and Naveen beat Shopon
Parvez 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.
Hockey
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 2-0 after leading 1-0 at half time in the
Hockey discipline played at Moulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium.
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