Shooter Samarakoon targets new Sri Lanka record

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from England

Sri Lanka shooter Mangala Samarakoon said he has better hopes of shattering a new Sri Lanka record in men’s 50m rifle prone event of the 2012 Olympic Games which will be worked off at the historical Royal Artillery Barracks on Friday (3).

The Royal Artillery Barracks has been fitted out with three striking temporary indoor shooting ranges for London 2012, which will all be dismantled and found a new home after the Games.In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Samarakoon said he has a better chance of going for a new Sri Lanka record in Friday’s event than the men’s 10m air rifle event in which he made a first round exit on Sunday.

“Although I qualified to meet in 10m air rifle event, my pet event has always been the 50m rifle event. I think I have a better prospect here to go for a Sri Lanka record,” the Lankan soldier said.

Asked about his unimpressive performance in 10m air rifle event, Samarakoon said he is not used to the kind of international ranges at Olympics backhome. “Though we have good international ranges in Sri Lanka, they are different to what we find here. Had I got a regular opportunity to train at this type of ranges, I could have well improved on my personal best,” he said.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old South Asian Championship gold medallist is determined to go for his personal best. “I have scored 595 out of 600 as my personal best. If everything goes fine, I will try to better that feat.

This type of experience is of great importance if we are to advance at international level,” he said.

Samarakoon said it was a great honour to compete at the Olympics and said he would try to make use of his Olympic experience to win international events in future. “We have a long way to go. But the experience we gain here will help immensely. It is a great encouragement. I am looking forward to my second event with hope and expectations,” he said.

Though Samarakoon qualified originally only in men’s 10m air rifle event, the Olympic Games organiseres offered an optional opportunity for the 370 shooters who are competing to register in another event. Accordingly, Samarakoon opted to fire at his pet event as the men’s 50 rifle prone event which will be worked off at 9 a.m. local time (1.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time) on Friday.

Out of the 61 shooters who are down to compete in men’s 50m rifle prone event, Martynov Sergei of Belarus has registered the perfect 600 scores while seven others have entry scores of 599 each - Daniel Brodmeier (Germany), Jozef Gonci (Slovakia), Jinseop Han (South Korea), Valerian Sauveplane (France), Eric Uptagraffet (USA), Christian Planer (Austria) and Weiyi Wang (China).

Gay challenges Jamaicans

Sprinter Tyson Gay, the second fastest man in history, said that he has set his sights on finding “the missing piece of my heart” by finally winning an Olympic Games medal.The American speed merchant is likely to be one of the leading challengers to Jamaican speed machines Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake in the 100m final on Sunday. The 29-year-old is only the second person after Bolt to run under 9.7seconds, but his career has been hampered by injuries. He failed to make the final at Beijing 2008 after his preparation was hit by a hamstring problem. “‘For me this Olympics is really special. To come here and compete for a medal really means a lot after I came up short in 2008. There is a lot of pressure for me, I am not going to lie,” he said.

“There would still be pressure if I did get a medal in 2008, but it’s a lot more now because I really feel the missing piece of my heart is an Olympic medal,” he added.

Britain’s golden girls

Great Britain’s Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have won a gold medal in the women’s Pair - the Host Nation’s first of London 2012 - while Ukraine took gold in the women’s Quadruple Sculls.The pair became the first British women to take an Olympic Rowing gold in front of an ecstatic crowd at Eton Dorney. Australia pipped world champions New Zealand to win silver but neither crew was able to live with the blistering pace set by the Britishpair.In a tribute to Britain’s first home gold medalists, the Royal Mail immediately produced two limited edition stamps.

Eight ejected for match fixing

The organisers took a tough decision to eliminate match-fixing from Olympics as four pairs of women’s doubles badminton players, including the Chinese top seeds, have been ejected from the Olympic tournament for trying to throw matches in an effort to secure a more favourable quarter-final draw.

The Badminton World Federation, the sport’s governing body, read a brief statement to a packed throng of media at the Wembley Arena venue for the sport, saying the players had been disqualified for breaching two parts of the players’ code: “Not using one’s best efforts to win a match and conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

Sharapova gains revenge

In last evening’s Olympic tennis action, Maria Sharapova gained revenge for her Wimbledon fourth-round exit as she defeated Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in a tight tussle to reach the quarter-finals of the women’s singles.The match looked set to go the same way when Lisicki edged a nip-and-tuck tie-break and then went a break up in the second set, but Sharapova showed her trademark battling qualities to turn things around and come through 6-7 (8/10) 6-4 6-3 after two hours and 47 minutes.

“I was really happy I was able to beat her today. Obviously losing to her a few weeks ago, I was not really happy with the way that I played, so I wanted to change that result,” the Russian said after her victory. “Even though I didn’t play my best tennis, I was really happy that I got through it and I stepped up when I had to,” she said.

Federer in quarters

In men’s events, Roger Federer saw one Olympic title slip away at Wimbledon today but remained on track for another as he moved into the quarter-finals of the men’s singles with victory over Denis Istomin. Federer did not have things all his own way against the Uzbek, who had the chance to break to lead 6-5 in the first set, but he could not take it and did not get another one, the world number one coming through 7-5 6-3.

But Federer and his doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka in their goldentriumph at 2008 Olympics had a tough time.They raced through the first set against experienced Israeli pair Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram but could not close it out and were beaten 1-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. LONDON, Thursday.