SL beach volleyball teams eye Olympic qualification

Chinthana Wasala Reporting From China

Sri Lanka’s Chameera Lakshan Gunawardena is currently at the eighth slot with four more races to go in the men's Techno 293 wind surfing event with 40 net points yesterday. He was placed 7th in yesterday’s race which was the sixth race in their category. His teammate Priyantha Gunawardena is currently the last in this category with 62 net points. The Asian Youth Games 2009 T293 wind surfing champion Wei Bipeng is leading the points table with five points net.

Sri Lankans participate in the Techno 293 type of wind surfing for the first time and they had to compete with the best in the sport.

Sri Lankan beach volleyball team left the Asian Beach Games Village last evening to participate in the London Olympics Qualifying tournament in Fuzhou, capital of the Fujian Province in China, where they will give their last shot at Olympic qualification. The more experienced duo, Mahesh Perera and Wasantha Rathnapala, who were placed 8th at the 2010 Asian Beach Games, will join the Sri Lanka team for the Olympic Qualifiers at Fuzhou.

The women's teams will be the same for Sri Lanka at the Olympic Qualifiers. Gnanasagari Gunasingha and Nirosha Lakmini will be the first team and the other team will comprise Thakshila Nilanjalee and Geethika Gunawardena. Sri Lanka men's team will go on with the best they got, including Pubudu Kumara and Nalin Peiris instead of Asanka Pradeep Kumara and Malintha Yapa who will return to Sri Lanka. Asked why the number-one beach volleyball duo in Sri Lanka, Asanka and Yapa not playing in the Olympic Qualifiers, Sri Lanka beach volleyball team manager Bandara Herath said that the reason was two teams’ Asian ranks. “It is true that they are on top when it comes to the Sri Lankan rankings. But Pubudu and Nalin are ahead of them when it comes to the Asian rankings,” added Bandara.

Kabaddi teams in action from today

Sri Lankan men's and women's kabaddi teams will play their preliminary round match today. Sri Lankan women will play against Bangladesh in their first appearance today while the men will meet Thailand in a group-B match.

Beach volleyball gold for Thailand

Thailand won the gold medal in the beach volleyball womens event when they beat China 2-1 (23-21, 16-21, 14-16) in a highly contested three-setter final at the Haiyang beach last morning. Chinese Taipei beat Kazakhstan 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 15-13) to win the bronze medal after another hard fought battle. In the men's segment, two teams from Kazakhstan secured both silver and bronze medals. Indonesia beat Kazakhstan 2-0 (22-20, 20-17) to win the gold medal while the second Indonesian team was beaten by Kazakhstan quite comfortably, 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) to secure the bronze medal.