Ethir to motivate Sri Lanka athletes:

Pathetic display by Sri Lankan sailors

Sri Lanka’s first ever Asian Games gold medallist Nagalingam Ethirveerasingham is in town to assist the Sri Lanka athletic team which is making their final preparations for the 16th Asian Games track and field competition which is due to start later this week.

Better known in athletic circles as ‘Ethir’, the former ace Sri Lanka athlete based in California, United States, has volunteered to help Sri Lanka team on an invitation by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka.

“It was the NOC President Hemasiri Fernando who was instrumental in getting down Ethir and he is assisting the team in a big way,” Chef-de-Mission of the Sri Lanka team told the Daily News yesterday. Pinnawala added that in recognition of his services, NOC has nominated Ethir to the OCA Board and Parade as Sri Lanka’s representative.

Ethiveerasingham who won Sri Lanka’s first Asian Games gold medal in Jakarta, 1959 in men’s high jump, has shown a keen interest in helping Sri Lanka’s emerging athletes. He was instrumental in securing a scholarship to Asian Championship gold medalist Manjula Kumara Wijesekera at the University of Southern California. High jumper Wijesekera is here making his preparations under the watchful eyes of Ethirveerasingham.

Poor show by rowers and shooters

As in the previous Asian Games, Sri Lanka’s sailing team painted a poor picture, finishing last in their respective events. Sureni Gunaratne came last (ninth) in women’s dinghy optimist race 1, which was won by China’s Yuting Lu. Lakshan Gunawardena too was placed last in his men’s mistral race 1, way behind the winner King Yin Chen of Hong Kong.

Young Dinouk Avishka de Alwis too failed to justify his presence, finishing tenth out of 11 competitors in men’s dinghy optimist race 1, won by Singaporean Ryan Lo Jun Lo.

Adding to Lankan rowing team’s misery was Kanishka Jayaratne and Sanjeev de Silva who were placed last in men’s lightweight Double Sculls race heat 1. The duo clocked an unimpressive 7:06.32, way behind the winning combination from Hong Kong – Kwong Chow and Sau Wah So – 6:35.33.

Welandagoda, De Alwis, Gunawardena and Gunaratne fared no better in their respective second races, managing to secure only the last places as they did in the morning session.

De Alwis was placed last in men’s dinghy race 2 while Gunaratne too came last in the women’s race 2 of the same event. Welandagoda too was last (12th) in open laser race 2. Gunawardena was seventh in men’s mistral race, finishing slightly ahead of Pakistani Muhammed Saijad.

The biggest disappointment for Sri Lanka on day three was weightlifter Indika Dissanayake who was forced to withdraw from men’s 62kg Group B event. He failed to clear his all three snatch attempts to lift 112kg.

Olympian Senanayake Edirisinghe was the other who contributed to Sri Lanka’s team run today, finishing 35th out of 50 competitors in the men’s 10m air pistol event.

He had an inaccurate six rounds of 94, 92, 96, 94, 91, 96 to aggregate 563 points (average 9.383) in the qualifying round. Finishing on top of the list was China’s Zonggllang Tan with scores of 96, 96, 97, 100, 99, 97 to aggregate 585 (average 9.750).

First gold for India

In contrast, India capitalized on their success at last month’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, producing their first gold medalist at the 16th Asian Games.

Indian Pankaj Advani gave his country the first gold at the 45-nation Games when he finished first in men’s English Billiards Singles event.

South Korea made a clean sweep, winning all four shooting gold medals on offer today with Gim Yun-Mi won the women’s 10m air pistol individual event. She scored 483.3 points for her gold, beating Chinese Sun Qi to second place with 481.7. North Korean Jo Yong Suk took bronze with 480.2 points.

Earlier in the day, South Korea won the men’s and women’s team and men’s individual in the 10m air pistol events.

The contingent from Seoul had more success as Jang Sunjae won the gold medal in men’s individual pursuit of cycling track event. He finished ahead of Cheung King Lok of Hong Kong and Li Wei of China.

Yuichi Hosoda of Japan won the gold medal in men’s individual triathlon with a total time of 1:52:15.566. Jia Rui of Macau won the gold in men’s Daoshu/Gunshu All-Round in Wushu.

Veteran Rui gave Macau its first gold medal at the Guangzhou Asian Games, bettering his silver medal won at the 2002 Doha Games.

He scored 19.61 points to win the champion for the broadsword and staff competition under the Taolu category.

Lee Jongchan from South Korea took the silver with 19.42, and Nguyen Manh Quyen snatched the first medal for Vietnam at Guangzhou by winning the bronze with 19.38 points.

In the Table Tennis women’s team championship, China beat Taijikistan 3-0, Japan beat Taiwan 3-1, Singapore beat Laos 3-0, India beat Maldives 3-0, North Korea beat Thailand 3-1, Vietnam beat Nepal 3-0, Uzbekistan beat Nepal 3-0, Thailand beat Vietnam 3-1, South Korea beat Qatar 3-0 and Hong Kong beat Malaysia, 3-0.

Lankans in action today

Sri Lanka is due to compete in shooting, swimming, rowing, sailing and in table tennis on the fourth day of the Asian Games on Monday.

Mangala Samarakoon, Sarath Chandrasiri and Krishantha Kodikara will fire in men’s 50m rifle prone event of the shooting competition at Aoti Range at 9 am.

Ace Sri Lanka swimmer Heshan Unamboowe will launch his country’s campaign at Aoti Aquatic Centre when he competes in men’s 50m freestyle heats.

At the Guangzhou Gymnasium, Sri Lanka table tennis team will compete in mixed doubles and women’s singles.

Sri Lanka’s sailors who came out with a dismal performance today, are down to compete tomorrow too in third races of their respective events - men’s mistrial, men’s dinghy optimist, women’s dinghy optimist and open laser radial. Considering their poor form in the first two races of the respective events, it is hard to expect anything noteworthy from the Lankan sailing team.

At the International Rowing Center on Monday, Sri Lanka’s Sanjeev de Silva is due to compete in lightweight men’s singles sculls heats in race one.

GUANGZHOU, Sunday