Asian Grand Prix second leg:

SL bag two golds, silver and bronze

Chinthana Wasala Reporting

Sri Lanka team finished the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletic Championship with two gold medals, one silver and a bronze medal at the Institute of Physical Education university grounds in Chonburi, some 100 kilometers off Bangkok last evening.

Sri Lanka’s golden girl of the first leg at Thammasat University Grounds, Olympian Nadeeka Lakmali bagged her second medal in the three-leg series, throwing 55.99 meters against the wind in the women’s javelin throw yesterday.

At the first leg of the AGP which was held in Bangkok, Lakmali cleared 56.83 meters to win the gold medal, but was behind her five-year-old record performance which stands at 58.43 meters.

Women’s 800 metres gold medalist W.K.L.A. Nimali (centre), bronze medalist Shanika Samanmalee (right) and silver medalist Vietnam’s Do Thi Thao (left). Pictures by Prince Gunasekara

However yesterday’s conditions did not favour the athletes, as strong winds blew across the ground which did not have tall pavilions to block winds. The second placed Chinese athlete Chang Chunfeng cleared 53.16 meters and home favourite Natta Nahcan won the bronze with 51.89 meters ahead of Sri Lankan Dilhani Lekamge who finished fourth with a 50.51 meter throw. Lakmali wasn’t the only Lankan to leave for Colombo with gold as Sri Lanka’s second gold medal was won by W K L A Nimali in the women’s 800 meters, finishing her two laps in 2:07:08 seconds. Nimali was not alone on the podium as the other Sri Lankan who ran in the event, Shanika Samanmalee won the bronze medal clocking 2:07:53 seconds behind the Vietnam’s Do Thi Thao who won the silver with a timing of 2:07:10 seconds.

Nimali finished sixth in the first leg and she ran three seconds faster last evening in Chonburi.

Young lad from Polonnaruwa, Kasun Kalhara Seneviratne converted his bronze medal into silver yesterday when he had a 47:14 second run in the men’s 400 meters final. India’s Raju Arokai bagged the gold, timing 46:54 seconds. Kalhara won the bronze medal in the men’s 400 m event, clocking 47:18 seconds, at the first leg of the AGP and he is highly satisfied with his run in windy conditions.

Chandrika Subhashini who was confident that she would be able to grab the gold in the women’s 400 meters, was only a spectator yesterday as her illness did not allow her to step onto the track.

She suffered from a food related problem two days back and was unable to regain her strength to run in yesterday’s sprint. However, according to the Asian Grand Prix rules and regulations, she will be allowed to run in the third leg which will be held in Colombo on Sunday as she has submitted the doctor’s medical report.

Sri Lankan camp had high hopes on the men’s 100 meters relay, but unfortunately the second holder Mohamed Safran dropped the baton after A C Nadeeshan gave them the perfect start.

Javelin thrower Sachith Maduranga threw 73.52 meters into the wind, but his effort was not enough to book him a place on the podium.

He was placed fifth when Uzbekistan’s Bobur Shokrojonov won the gold medal with a performance of 77.50 meters. Lankan Warunaasitha Lakshan Dayarathne was placed last.

Sri Lanka’s only 100-meter sprinter within the top eight at the 2013 Asian Grand Prix, Jani Chaturangani De Silva was placed seventh in her women’s 100 meters group A event with a 12.17 second run while Sujani Buddhika was 13th in the overall timing in the women’s 100 meters, clocking12.36 seconds. Eranga Dinesh Fernando (15.79 meters) and I D S S Jayasinghe (15.47 meters) finished fifth and seventh in the men’s triple jump respectively. High jumpers were also failed to impress for Sri Lanka. D M M Dissanayake cleared 2.10 meters and was placed 10th in the men’s high jump while Priyangika Madumanthi (1.79 meters) and Tharanga Vinodani (1.70 meters) were at the bottom of the list.

D L Samarajeewa was placed fifth in the men’s 3000 meters and L D E E Rathnasiri finished fifth in the men’s long jump.