Double gold medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe (women's 200 and 4 x 100m) and Rohan Pradeep Kumara (men's 200m and 400m) celebrate in Colombo (© Dinesh Weerawansa)
Indians continued their overall dominance while Sri Lanka gained surprise success in some field events on day two of the athletic competition at the 10th South Asian Games in Colombo on Friday (25).
India followed their six gold medals on the opening day with another six out of 14 finals that were worked off on day two. The Indian men won two out of their seven finals while their women fared much better winning four out of seven, highlighted by 2003 World championship bronze medallist Anju Bobby George, who won the Long Jump gold medal with 6.42m.
Thanks to three surprise gold medals by little known athletes in field events, Sri Lanka bagged five gold medals to bring their total to eight, though Indian still heads the overall standings with 12 gold.
Nepal (Rajendra Bhandari, 5000m 14:01.19) and Bangladesh (Mohammed Mahfuzar Rahman, 14.19 in men's 100m Hurdles) won their first athletic gold medals of the Colombo 2006 Games, while Pakistan won its second (Allah Ditta, 400m Hurdles 51.00).
The Lankan gold medallists in yesterday's athletic events were Rohan Pradeep Kumara (men's 400m - 46.33 sec,), Kingsly Gunatillake (men's Javelin Throw), Dulanjalee Ranasinghe (women's High Jump – 1.71m) and Padma Nandani Wijesundara (women's Discus Throw – 47.50m). Sri Lanka also bagged the women's 4x100m gold (44.63 sec).
Rohan Pradeep, the 200m winner on day one, underlined his track supremacy with another great race in the men's 400m final in 46.33 but had to survive a ding dong battle with compatriot Prasanna Amarasekera of the Sri Lanka Army. Rohan Pradeep got off to a relatively good start and was accelerating by the half way mark when his team mate challenged. Amarasekera overtook him with just 75m to go but Pradeep did not give up and regained the lead only just 30m away from finish line, with Amarasekera taking silver in 46.40.
Sri Lanka's women's team, which included the previous day's women's 200m gold and silver medallists - Susanthika Jayasinghe and Sujani Buddhika, bagged women's 4 x 100m gold. On the anchor leg, Jayasinghe brought home the baton in 44.63, a new SA Games athletic record bettering the previous mark of 44.64 by India in Kanthmandu, 1999.
Indian gold medallists on Day 2 were Pinki Pramanik (52.54 – women’s 400m), Preej Sradeedharan (34:27.13 – women’s 10,000m), Anuradha Biswal (14.28 – women’s 100m Hurdles), Sourab Vij (17.43m in men's Shot Put), Anju Bobby George (6.42m in women's Long Jump), Men’s 4x100 relay: 1. India 40.29,
Dinesh Weerawansa for the IAAF
Day Two results (25 Aug)
Men:
400m
1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (Sri Lanka) 46.33, 2. Prasanna Amarasekera (Sri Lanka) 46.40, 3. Rana Saheer Ahmed (Pakistan) 47.77
5000m
1.Rajendra Bhandari (Nepal) 14:01.19, 2. Sunil Kumar Singh (India) 14:02.43, 3. Nowshad Khan (Pakistan) 14:28.59
110m Hurdles
1.Mafuzur Rahman (Bangladesh) 14.19, 2. Muhanned Sajjad (Pakistan) 14.26, 3. Abdul Rashid (Pakistan) 14.62
400m Hurdles
1.Allah Ditta (Pakistan) 51.00, 2. Asoka Jayasundara (Sri Lanka) 51.02, 3. Joseph Abraham (India) 51.66
Shot Put
1.Sourab Vij (India) 17.43, 2. Kudeep Man (India) 16.75, 3.Asraf Ali (Pakistan) 16.63
Javelin Throw
1.Kingsly Gunathilake (Sri Lanka) 77.99, 2.Sunil Goswami (India) 70.20, 3.Muhammad Irfan (Pakistan) 69.69
4x100 relay
1. India 40.29, 2. Pakistan 40.76, 3. Afghanistan 43.91.
Women:
400m
1. Pinki Pramanik (India) 52.54, 2. Menaka Wickramasinghe (Sri Lanka) 53.83, 3. Lasanthi Deepika (Sri Lanka) 55.76
10,000m
1. Preej Sradeedharan (India) 34:27.13, 2. Kanchai Maya Koju (Nepal) 35:03.43, 3. Preethi Rao (India) 35:24.05
100m Hurdles
1.Anuradha Biswal (India) 14.28, 2. Sumita Rani (Bangladesh) 14.36, 3. Poonam Bojanna (India) 14.61.
High Jump
1.Dulanjalee Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka) 1.71m, 2. Tharanga Vinodani (Sri Lanka) 1.68m, 3.Tessymol Joseph (India) 1.68m
Long Jump
1.Anju Bobby George (India) 6.42m, 2. Foujia Huda (Bangladesh) 6.07m, 3. N.C.D Priyadarshani (Sri Lanka) 5.94m
Discus Throw
Padma Nandani Wijesundara (Sri Lanka) 47.50m, 2. Sarjoj Singhe (India) 45.67m, 3. Priyanka Bhanot (India) 43.29m
4x100m relay
1.Sri Lanka 44.63 secs, 2.India 46.37, 3.Pakistan 47.28
