Heartbreak for Prasad in Long Jump
One of Sri Lanka’s top medal hopes faded, as long jumper Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri failed to live up to expectations. He finished 7th with a best leap of 7.86m at the Asian Games 2018 in Indonesia on Sunday (27th) .
Coming to the Games after accomplishing a leap of 8.14m at the National championship and 8.10m prior to that during the trials, Prasad was made captain of the athletics team and was a prime medal hope for Sri Lanka. But the competition wasn’t in his favour as his first leap of 7.86m turned out to be his best and his last three were declared as foul.
The Gold medal was won by Jianan Wang of China with a new Asian Games record of 8.24m, but it was 23cm shorter than his personal best of 8.47m. Another Chinese athlete Yaoguang Zhang won the Silver with a leap of 8.15m, which was again 14cm shorter than his personal best. Host Indonesia won the Bronze when Sapwaturrahman Sapwaturrahman leaped a personal best of 8.09m.
In the 400m, Kalinga Kumarage found the going tough and finished eighth in 46.49 seconds. The race was won by Qatar’s Hassan Abdalelah (hailing originally from Sudan), with a time of 44.89 seconds. India’s Mohommad Anas Yahiya finished second for the Silver (45.69 seconds) and Bahrain’s Ali Khamis won the Bronze (45.70 seconds).
With Kalinga clocking a personal best of 45.99 seconds in the heats, Sri Lanka now has high hopes of securing a medal in the 4x400m relay.
Bahrain’s quarter miler Salwa Eid Naser (Nigerian born) won the women’s 400m with a new Asian Games record of 50.09 seconds, while India’s world junior Gold medalist Hima Das had to settle for the Silver in 50.79 seconds.
Asian record holder of the 100m, China’s Su Bingtian, became the fastest athlete at the Asian Games when he won the 100m finals with a new Games record of 9.92 seconds. The previous Games record holder, Nigerian born Qatari athlete Femi Ogunode’s brother, Tossin Ogunode, finished second for the Silver in 10.00 seconds. Japan’s Rayota Yamagata also clocked 10.00 seconds for the Bronze.
Another Nigerian born sprinter Edidiong Odiong, representing Bahrain, won the women’s 100m finals in 10.30 seconds, while India’s Dutee Chand, who clocked 11.32 seconds, won the Silver. Chinese Wei Yongli who had earlier run 10.99 seconds, finished third in 11.33 seconds.
In other events of the day, India’s distance runner Lakshmanan Govindan, who ran 25 laps to finish third in the 10,000m was disqualified, as he had inadvertently stepped inside the legal limit of the track while competing.
In the morning, the women’s marathon was won by Kenyan born athlete Rose Chelimo of Bahrain with a time of 2 hours 34. 51 seconds. Chinese Lijijo Gong won the shot put with a 19.66m performance. Another hired athlete Chani Hassan won the men’s 10,000m for Bahrain with a time of 28 minutes 35.54 seconds.
Korean Hyelim Jung won the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.20 seconds, while the men’s hammer throw was won by Ashraf Elseify of Qatar. Japanese Keisuke Ushiro won the men’s decathlon garnering 7,878 points.
Sri Lanka’s two 800m runners will be in action today in first round competition, but the focus will be on steeple chase runner Nilani Rathnayaka, who will compete in the 3000m steeple chase finals. Nilani won the Gold medal while setting a new Sri Lanka record at the same venue early this year during the Test event for the Asian Games, and will be hoping that experience will stand her in good stead today.
Today’s Athletics schedule (SL time)
8.30am – Women’s 800m Heats (Nimali Liyanarachchi, Gayanthika Abeyrathne)
5.45pm- Women’s 3000m Steeple Chase (Nilani Rathnayaka)
6.35pm – Men’s 800m heats (Indunil Herath)
