On the opening day of track and field events Sri Lanka’s Chandrika Subhashini qualified to compete in the final of the Women’s 400 metre event at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea yesterday. Subhashini will run in the Women’s 400metre final today at 3.05pm Sri Lanka time.
She clocked 52.78seconds in the first heat and finished first, while giving Sri Lanka a medal hope in track and field events. Her timing has placed Subhashini at fourth place among the final eight contestants competing in today’s finals.
A ray of hope for Sri Lanka today
The best timing among the eight finalists of the Women’s 400metre was claimed by Bahrain’s Oluami Mujidath who clocked 51.11seconds. India’s Jutumma Raju has the second best timing with 52.17seconds behind her name while Vietnamese sprinter Tim Lan has a timing of 52.57seconds ahead of the Sri Lankan runner.
After her event Subhashini stated that she hardly had any competition from other rivals allowing her to comfortably win the race. Her personal best timing which is 52.36seconds gives Sri Lanka a ray of hope of a medal, she added.
“I knew that I was well ahead during the final 100 metres. So I did not put much of an effort during that phase. Or else I could have finished off with a better timing,” she stated.
Behind Subhashini, R. Yulia of Kazakhstan finished at second with a timing of 54.21seconds followed by Malaysia’s Bintu who clocked 54.47seconds to claim the third spot. The top two finishers of three heats and the two best sprinters with best timings from the rest were selected for today’s finals from yesterday.
Meanwhile former Sri Lankan sprint queen Damayanthi Darsha’s 14-year-old record in the Women’s 400metre event was dashed by Bahraini sprinter Mujidath yesterday. Mujidath clocked 0.02 better than Darsha, who claimed the record in 2002 in Busan with a timing of 51.13 seconds. Subhashini is expected to compete in the Women’s 200metre first round heats on Tuesday.
In boxing Sri Lanka’s Erandi de Silva entered the quarter-finals of the Women’s 51kg Flyweight category after she beat Mack Kiet by three rounds to nil in the sixth qualifying bout yesterday. Erandi is expected to face off Nanjik Seseng of Mongolia in the quarter-finals at 10.30 am Sri Lanka time today.
The Sri Lankan pugilist won her rounds by 40-34, 40-34 and 40-35 to record an exciting straight win against the Macau athlete. She managed to gain full 10 points each from the four judges in her win.
Dilanka Suresh was scheduled to take on Japanese boxer Hashida Shotha in the Men’s 52kg weight category late last night. Besides Erandi, Sri Lanka’s Shiromali Weeraratne and Mohamed Dilshan will also hit the boxing ring today. Shiromala will fight against China’s Lin Ki Yung in the 75kg category at 10.30am Sri Lanka time while Dilshan is expected to meet Iran’s Qadeem Sami in the Men’s 64kg weight class.