Colombo, Sri Lanka. - Uzbekistan's Lyubov Perepelova threw down an unexpected challenge to Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe on home soil as the women's 200m turned out to be a keenly contested tussle at the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix 2004 series which took place at Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo today.

The women's 200m was a thriller as the event has generally been important to the hosts Sri Lanka for the last five years. Jayasinghe, who won the first leg event in Thailand last Wednesday with a 23.42, was given a close fight by Perepelova, with both ending up with the same time of 23.38. However, the Lankan sprint queen was lucky to scrape through when the photo finish was examined. Guzel Khubbieva (UZB - 23.52) came third.

However, Perepelova secured the win in the women’s 100m in 11.38 from compatriot Guzel Khubbieva (11.54).

Gennadiy Chernovol of Kazakhstan took the men’s dash in 10.50 while his closest rivals were Saudi Arabian Yahya H.I. Habeeb (10.59) and Sri Lankan Joy Dhanushka Perera (10.64) who secured the second and third places respectively.

Manjula Wijesekera accounted for a new Sri Lanka national mark of 2.25m to win men's High Jump.

Sprinter Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando (SRI), who took the men's 400m repeating the win from the first leg of the Asian GP in Songkla, Thailand. Fernando clocked 45.78 seconds to win in style without much challenge from his closest rivals Indian Manoj Lal K.J. (46.75) and Saudi Arabian Khalid K.B. Salim (47.48).

India women's 4 x 400m squad set a national of 3:27.35. Their male counter parts also won in a time of 3:04.30 to keep their chances alive of a place in the Athens Olympics. Sri Lanka's chances of making it to the summer Olympics looked slim, unless they come out with a superlative performance in Manila on July 1. Sri Lanka team clocked 3:04.46 in second behind India but it was a better timing than they registered at the first leg meet in Songkla on Wednesday.
 
Thailand's Tricia Roberts, who won all four meets in last year's Asian Grand Prix and finished third in last Wednesday's Thai Grand Prix, and painted an even worse poor picture in finishing last - eighth with a timing of 16.82, far below her standards.

Iranian Abbas Saimimi (63.77m) proved that his Discus win in Thailand was not a surprise, beating China's Wu Tao (61.67) once again into the second place.

Indian  Manjeet Kaur clocked 52.52 seconds to win women's 400m while Asian Games triple gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha (SRI) had to be satisfied with the third place once again.

100m: Gennadiy Chernovol (KAZ) 10.50, 2. Yahya H.I. Habeeb (KSA) 10.59, 3. Joy Dhanushka Perera (SRI) 10.64.
200m: 1. Yang Yaozu (CHN) 21.08, 2. Prasanna Amarasekera (SRI) 21.17, 3. He Jun (CHN) 21.24.
400m: 1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando (SRI) 45.78, 2. Manoj Lal K.J.
(IND) 46.75, 3. Khalid K.B. Salim (KSA) 47.48.
1500m: 1. Salah F. Fadallah (KSA) 3:40.42 sec *NR, 2. Sajad Moradi
(IRI) 3:41.74, 3. J.M.S. Jayaweera (SRI) 3:44.08.
4 x 100m: 1. Thailand 39.58, 2. Sri Lanka 39.71 *NR , 3. Saudi Arabia 39.80 4 x 400m: 1. India 3:04.30, 2. Sri Lanka 3:04.46, 3. India 'B' 3:26.34.
Shot Putt: 1. Ahmad Gholoum (KUW) 18.42m, 2. Navpreet Singh (IND) 18.13, 3. Sergey Rubtsov (KAZ) 17.84
Triple jump: 1. Gu Junjie (CHN) 16.11m, 2. Mohamad Hazzori (SYR) 16.09, 3. Rasheed A. R. Al Rumani (KSA) 16.08.
High jump: 1. Manjula Kumara Wijesekera (SRI) 2.25m, 2. Jean Claude Pabbath
(LIB) 2.23, 3. Iuriy Pakhlyayev (KAZ) 2.23.
Discus Throw: 1, Abbas Saimimi (IRI) 63.77m; 2, Wu Tao (CHN) 61.67, 3. Sultan M.M. Al-Dawodi, (KSA), 59.30.

Women:

100m: 1. Luy Bov Perepelova (UZB) 11.38, 2. Guzel Khubbieva (UZB) 11.54, 3. Nong Nuch Sanrat (THA) 11.73.
200m: 1. Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI) 23.38, 2. Lyubov Perepelova (UZB) 23.38, 3. Guzel Khubbieva (UZB) 23.52.
400m: 1. Manjeet Kaur (IND) 52.52, 2. Svetlana Bodritskaya (KAZ) 52.63, 3. Damayahnthi Darsha (SRI) 52.83.
1500: 1, Tatiana Borisova ( KGZ), 4:10.35, 2, Syetlana Lukasheva,
(KAZ) 4:17.15. 3. S.N.D. Silva (SRI) 4:40.56.
100m Hurdles: 1. Feng Yun (CHN) 13.24, 2. Su Uping (CHN) 13.62, 3. J.J. Shoba (IND) 13.91.
4 x 100m: 1. Japan 44.39, 2. China 44.84, Sri Lanka 45.73.
4 x 400m: 1. India 3:27.35 *NR, 2. Kazakhstan 3:43.59, 3. Sri Lanka 3:56.46. Discus throw: 1. Li Yan Feng (CHN) 64.30m, 2.Neelam J. Singh (IND) 60.63, 3. Xu Shaoyang (CHN) 59.31.
Shot Put: 1, Li Meiju (CHN), 17.92m, 2, Zhang Guirong (SIN) 17.62, 3. Lee Chen Feng (CHN) 17.17.
Long Jump: 1. Leyang Shu Yun (CHN) 6.66m, 2. J. .J. Shoba, (IND) 6.63, 3. Lerma Elmiram (PHI) 6.56.