Kalinga, Prasad in to finals of the Asian Games

Long Jumper Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri and quarter miler Kalinga Kumarage qualified for the final of their respective event at the Asian Games in Indonesia . Their finals will be worked off today. The long jump final is scheduled for 5.20 p.m. SL time, while the 400m final will be worked off at 5.40 p.m.
After the first day of competition, it is obvious that athletics is the sport where Sri Lanka has performed best out of 30 other sports, as several of them were knocked-out in the first round itself, while only Mathew Abeysinghe (swimming) came to the final.
Wimalasiri had an awful start as his first two attempts (out of three) were adjudged no jumps, but his first legal modest attempt of 7.56m was enough for him to qualify for the final. His best performance of 8.14m is better than last year’s Gold medalist in the event (8.02m) and Sri Lanka has high hopes he will produce a medal. His two failed attempts gave the Sri Lankan camp a mini heart attack, but being selected for the final is the only thing that matters.
Meanwhile, quarter miler Kalinga Kumarage, who clocked a personal best of 45.99 seconds in the heats, finished third in the semi-final with a time of 46.21 seconds, to qualify for the final.
Asian Junior Gold medalist Aruna Darshana had a disappointing day. He clocked 46.53 seconds in the semi-final to finish third, but did not qualify for the final. It was probably the lack of experience at senior level and not having his coach by his side which led to his disappointing performance.
Poor Technical officiating
Poor organizing and handling of technical aspects of the meet was a highlight on the very first day of athletics, as organizers seemed clueless and made blunders. There were several cases of organizers giving wrong numbers to athletes, which resulted in confusion. In the 10,000m Hiruni Wijayarathne was informed she will not be able to run because her number was not in the list, which was clearly a mistake on the part of the organizers, as she was properly accredited.
Palestine athlete Ranwa Balilli who came to the starting line-up of the 10,000m, was removed citing some technical problem, which resulted in a long delay in starting the race and confusion for others. If there were such technical problems it should have been identified from the call room and sorted out early and not just before the race when the athletes were lining-up, especially in an international event of this nature. After the hassle she had to undergo, Hiruni was mentally down and gave up the race midway.
Same thing happened to long jumper Wimalasiri, who had been given a different number to compete, which created confusion.
The organizers had made another blunder when they put the quarter milers in an air conditioned room for more than half an hour just before the race after warming-up, which caused problems for the athletes.
In the 400m, Bahrain’s Asian record holder Salwa Eid Naser clocked 50.86 seconds in the heats to renew the games record, while the men’s marathon was won by Japanese Inoue Hiroto in a time of 2 minutes 18.22 seconds.
It will be a heavy day for athletes, as the men’s and women’s 100m and 400m finals are scheduled for tonight.
In other events, badminton doubles pair Sachin Dias and Buwaneka Goonathilaka advanced to the quarter-finals beating Pakistan’s Azam Rizwan and Kashif Ali Sulehri 2-0 in the round of 16.