Sports - Susanthika leads Lankas ‘gold’ hunt

Sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe led the gold hunt for Sri Lanka on the third day of the 10th South Asian Games track and field events worked out at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. She proved her mettle in no uncertain terms by winning the 100m dash with the minimum of fuss. In the process she gave Sri Lanka a double following her 200m victory two days ago.

With host Sri Lanka being unable to make any impression in the first four events of the day, which were in the women's 800m, Discuss Throw and the 3000m Steeplechase events, which were won by India, Pakistan and Nepal respectively. Only a silver and a bronze medal came home from the men's 800m.

It was Susanthika who gave the Lankans the much needed start with a top notch running display bringing back memories to the thousands that had thronged the Stadium of her great efforts at earlier international meets. They were not disappointed as the Lankans went on to bag four more gold medals besides the two silver and bronze medals.

Suasnthika though unable to beat the SAG record of 11.19 seconds set by Damayanthi Darsha at Kathmandu in 1999, made a respectable run of 11.33 seconds, the opposition she met was not enough for her to put in more as the second to reach the tape was another Sri Lankan - Jani Chaturangani de Silva - way behind, timing 11.76 followed by Pakistan's Sadaf Siddiqui. Susi ended the SAG on a successful note by bagging three golds.

Sri Lanka's second gold came in the men's 100m dash where another experienced campaigner Umanga Surendra grabbed the gold with a timing of 10.52 seconds with two Indians Anil Kumar and Jagdish Basak taking the silver and bronze medals respectively. The Lankans bagged two more golds which came in the field event. S.D. Chaminda Sampath won the men's Triple Jump event in a record leap of 16.26 metres eclipsing the SAG record of 16.16 set by Amarjeet Singh of India in 2004 at Islamabad.

This was followed by another gold which came in the men's high jump event from Lanka’s top jumper W.P. Manjula Kumara who was unfortunate to beat his own SAG record of 2.20 metres which he set two years ago with a leap of 2.19. India took the silver and Sri Lanka's A.D. Nalin Priyantha the bronze.

Host Sri Lanka were expected to take the final two gold medalswhich were on offer in the 4x400m relay event for men and women. But the women’s team were unable to oblige as a mistake in the exchange of baton in the latter stages put paid to their chances. They had to be satisfied with the silver medal with India taking the gold and Pakistan the bronze.

But the men’s team comprising of first lap Prasanna Amarasekera, second lap Rohitha Pushpakumara, third lap Sugath Tilekeratne and the last Rohana Pradeep Kumara was surely going to be too much for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives and it took place as expected.From start to finish it was Sri Lanka all the way, though the lead at the end of the second lap was a good enough once the baton was taken over by Sugath Tilekeratne. It was going to be a one horse race as Pradeep Kumara did the honours in style and he too had a haul of three gold medals. India and Pakistan took the silver and bronze medals. All in all the Lankans bagged 13 gold medals, three on day one and five each on day two and three.

Apart from the athletics Sri Lanka won gold medals in the men's and women Cycling events, Taekwondo and Karate. Meemanege Perera following his win in the Individual Time Trial 50km win on Tuesday bagged his second medal in the cycling event when he won the 169kms men's event which started off from Galle Face and took the route through Negombo Road and diverting to Kandy Road and back to Galle Face. He had a time of 4.18.34 with compatriot Upul Lokuge taking the silver and Pakistan's Dilsher Ali the bronze.

The women's cycling event which sped off from Avissawella and conducted over 60kms along the Highlevel route with the finish opposite Galle Face, saw Sri Lanka's Ayesha Sumanaweera the daughter of former Tour de Lanka champion A.M. Sumanaweera taking the gold medal with a timing of 1.53.56 followed by Lanka's double gold medalist Sriyalatha Wickramasinghe and Pakistan's Raheela Bano.

The Sri Lanka men's and women's Volleyball team qualified to play in the finals where they will meet India in both the categories. The men's team who played an extra ordinary game against the strong Pakistanis whom they defeated 3-2 in a round robin match. This was the first time that they were winning against Pakistan in 35 years.

They continued their good form when they completely outclassed Bangladesh 3-1 though losing the first set. The women's team qualified after finishing as the top two teams. There were only four teams India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Lankans won against Bangladesh and Nepal but lost to India who finished on top. Jayani Gomes took the gold medal in the women's Bantamweight category of Taekondo event defeating Padma Gurung of Nepal while Amali Iresha Perera beat Sharin Pervin of Bangladesh to take the gold medal in the women's 48kg Karate.

In the last event for the day Pakistan won the soccer gold when they beat Sri Lanka by 1 goal to nil.

India lead the medal tally with 111 gold, 67 silver and 42 bronze medals. In second place is Pakistan 40 gold, 41 silver and 65 bronze, Sri Lanka is third with 35 golds, 59 silver and 75 bronze followed by Nepal eight gold, 12 silver and 25 bronze, Afghanistan six gold, seven silver and 14 bronze, Bangladesh 14 silver and 31 bronze and Bhutan two silver and nine bronze.