Namal Pathirage reporting from Dhaka, Bangladesh
Heshan Unamboowe, Trinity’s swimming sensation, brought home another Gold for Sri Lanka by winning the 100 meters backstroke event at the 11th South Asian Games continued at the Bangarabandu Stadium in Dhaka yesterday.
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| Heshan Unamboowe in action |
Unamboowe, not only brought home the Gold but also made a new SAG mark by erasing Sri Lanka swimmer Andrew Abeysinghe’s 2006 mark of 1 minute 00.11 with a new time of 58.98.
By yesterday Heshan had a Gold and a Silver against his name.
In the 100 meters backstroke event the silver was taken by Indian swimmer Balakrishnan Melkote Badrinath 59.08 and the Bronze by Bangladesh swimmer Rubel Rana 63.65.
Meanwhile the captain of the Lankan contingent Chaminda Wijekone won the first track event Gold by taking the 1500 m race while the second Gold was won by Chandrika Subashini Rashnayake, when she won the 200 meters women’s event. In this event the Silver was also taken by Premila Priyadarshani with a run of 24.63.
With this Gold rush Sri Lanka who was languishing in fourth place with three Golds, moved a step further with seven Golds against its name.
Wijekone in his 1500 m effort clocked 4 mts. 10.01 seconds; Wijekone who is doing his training in Kenya won Gold at the Asian Track and Field Championships in China. Chandrika Subashani in the 200 m Gold clocked 24.49 seconds.
Sri Lanka’s short distance hope Shehan Ambepitiya, from whom a gold was expected, had to be satisfied with a Silver in the 200 meters men’s event with a timing of 21.19 seconds. In this event Indian runner Abdul Majid Qureshi took the Gold.
Ironically it was evident that there was very little enthusiasm among the participants in the track and field events and most of them went into straight finals.Meanwhile the much awaited T/20 final between hosts Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will take place at the Dhaka International Cricket Stadium this evening. Huge crowds are expected at this event and there was a huge security cover taking place for the event.
The other crowd puller will be today’s football final between hosts Bangladesh and India.
Cricket and soccer were the only events that the authorities put tickets on sale mainly as a crowd control measure. The rest of the events were free of charge.
Nayantha Prasad Dharmaratne won Silver in the men’s high jump. Meanwhile Sri Lanka also won another Silver in the swimming events but the experienced Conrad Francis had to be satisfied with the fifth place in his 50 meters butterfly stroke event. |
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