Shooter Edirisinghe Senanayake was the first Sri Lanka competitor to take field in Games of the XXIX Olympiad here. However he failed to qualify for the final round of the 10 Metre Air Pistol Event as bad luck and the pressure of the big occasion combined to haunt the Sri Lankan as he finished 48th and last at the Beijing shooting range last afternoon.

Expectations were too much. “I think I wanted too much and pushed myself too hard” Senanayake summed up his performance at the biggest competition of his career with Sri Lankan media. Senanayake was plagued by a faulty gun throughout the competition as the gas pressure of his gun dipped during competition to give him an unexpected problem, but he came back amazingly with a repaired gun to give a much improved performance and even shot an impressive card of 98 in the sixth and final round.

“Yes, I had a problem with my gun because the gas pressure was down, but it didn’t have that much of an impact on my performance” admitted Senanayake.Senanayake´s coach Brigadier Kenneth Edema said Senanayake could have easily finished better had the technical error of the gun did not give trouble.
“He didn’t realise the problem at first. He had to fire a few rounds to ascertain whether there really was something wrong with the gun, and finally when I asked him to get the gun repaired, we found out that our suspicions were really true. But by that time, a few rounds were already over and it was difficult for him to make a comeback said Edema.

Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge who was at the venue to cheer on the shooter revealed that the Ministry had bought a new gun for Senanayake and sent him to Korea for a special training session just prior to Olympics that cost the government more that Rs. 500,000.

¨Yes we had a new gun but Senanayake did not use it for this competition as a shooter requires over a year to get used to a gun. The slightest discomfort can upset your shooting” said Edema.
Senanayake said that his concentration was broken by the problem of his gun and promised to perform better in his pet event 50 metre air pistol event for which he achieved the Olympic qualifying standard. The first round of that event would be held on Monday.

Results (Men´s 50 metre air pistol qualifying)

1. PANG Wei (China) 97, 98, 100, 96, 97, 98. Total 586
2. JIN Jong Oh (Korea) 99, 96, 99, 99, 94, 97. Total 584
3. KIM Jong Su (DPR Korea) 97, 98, 98, 98, 97, 96. Total 584
4. TURNER Jason (United States) 98, 100, 93, 96, 99, 97. Total 583
5. EKIMOV Leonid (Russian Fed.) 95, 97, 99, 97, 96, 98. Total 582
48. SENANAYAKE Edirisinghe (Sri Lanka) 91, 94, 93, 91, 94, 98. Total 561