Matthew Abeysinghe created a new Sri Lanka record of 1:0.97secs erasing his own previous record, but had to drop out from the event finishing 12th in the men’s 200m freestyle swimming preliminaries at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta yesterday.
Thirty-four swimmers competed in the preliminary round. Abeysinghe said that was sad that he couldn’t qualify for the next round, but as this is not his main event he hopes to perform well in the 100m, 50m freestyle events and relay events where he believes Sri Lanka has a potential to be in the finals.
Abeysinghe’s teammate Kavinda Nugawela competing in the second race of the same event’s preliminary round finished first beating six swimmers with a timing of 1:56.01secs but was placed 26th overall.
Cherantha de Silva took 2:05.90 secs to complete the men’s 200m butterfly event preliminaries and was placed 14th overall.
Lankan tennis players Anika Seneviratne and Sharmal Dissanayaka have made it to the final 32 in their respective singles events. Anika beat her Mongolian opponent Ariun-Erdene Erdenebileg in straight sets 6/1, 6/2 and Sharmal had the better of Abdulla Faaih (Maldives) 6/1, 6/3. The other Lankan tennis player Yasith de Silva failed to live up to expectations and conceded victory to Habib Hady (Lebanon) 2/6, 1/6. Anika and Yasith lost the mixed doubles preliminary round first match against their Oman opponents while Marian Angel and Sharmal went down to their Uzbekistan counterparts in the second mixed doubles match.
The Lankan women’s kabbadi team lost their first match against Thailand 41-15. Thailand lasses led 24-7 at half time. Sri Lanka savoured another bitter defeat in beach volleyball going down to Kazakhstan 2-0. India beat Sri Lanka in the first men’s match 44-28 after leading 27-13 at half time. Even though Lankan men displayed much better teamwork and attack in the second half, India managed to maintain the lead scoring 17-15.
Malisha Pathirage who contested in the under 52kg weight class in Wushu was defeated by her Chinese Taipei rival Chen Weiting 0-2. Lankan wrestler Charles Fernando was also beaten by Indonesia’s Saputra Eko Roni 4-0.
Another Lankan school swimmer, Akalanka Peiris will compete in the men’s 50m butterfly stroke preliminaries today and will sit for his A/L English paper at the Sri Lankan embassy in Indonesia soon after the event. Akalanka said that he is confident to face both challengers.
Sri Lanka hockey team will take on Japan while women’s kabbadi team will battle with host Indonesia and later Japan. The Lankan men’s kabbadi team will meet their Thailand counterparts. Anika, Marian and Sharmal will be seen in action in their tennis singles matches today while Yasith will join in the doubles.
Lankan volleyball and beach volleyball teams will also be seen in action today while Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Dinusha Gomes who carried the Sri Lankan flag in the opening ceremony contesting in the 48kg weight class women’s weightlifting event tomorrow (Tuesday).
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