It was bright and sunny all day on the 07th day of the 17th Asian Games.Most of the 80 Athletes are at the Games Village but it was a loosing streak for Sri Lanka in 04 out of 09 sports they are participating.
In Men’s Beach Volleyball, the No 2 pairing of Wasantha Rathnapala and Jude Mahesh Perera were beaten in straight sets in the Pre-Quarter Final stage.The tall,strong and skilled Kazhakstan duo won 2 sets to 0 with scoring being 21/14,21/11.That ended the competition for the Spikers.
In Men’s Hockey,Sri Lanka lost the last Pool B match 1-3 to Oman with the only consolation being the only goal scored by Ishanka Kumara in the 4th quarter of the match.After a goalless 1st quarter, the winners led 1-0 at half time.Inthe 3rd quarter, Sri Lanka conceded 2 goals before sounding the boards for the only time in 4 outings. They are scheduled to play in the classification game to find the wooden spoonists onthe 29th.10 teams participated.
Chameera Lakshan Gunawardene was placed 07th and last after 6 racers in Mistral Men’s Windsurfing. In the 04th race he ended in 7th place,7th again in the 05th and 6th in the 06th race.He will be seen in action tommorrow too with 6 more races to go.
The biggest dissapointment was the Women’s Cricket semi final result.Bangladesh beat Sri lanka by 25 runs with the Sri Lankan lasses being dismissed with 10 balls remaining. In the best match of the Games upto now, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat In the first 10 overs they totalled 41/2.The first boundry was scored in the 12th over to reach 50 runs.It took another 4 overs for them to hit their only other 4. Farqana Hoque [ 22 ] and top scorer Lata Mondol [ 34no ]added 29 runs for the 3rd wicket while lata Mondol was also involved in a 37 run partnership with Captain,Salma Khatum [ 12 ] for the 4th wicket.They batted sensibly in the face of some heady bowling on a slow,low surface.Bangladesh totalled 95/4 in 20 overs.Vice Captain,Udeshika Prabodani was carried off the field after being hit on her knee at the end of the 19th over. She was trying to field off her own bowling.
The winning target of 96 runs was challenging.The openers departed in the 2nd over.Skipper Chamari Atapattufailed to lead by exampleyet againas Sri Lanka slipped to 16/3.Shashikala Siriwardene [ 15 ]and Chamari Polgampola [ 11 ] were involved in a 27 run partnership for the 4th wicket.they were the only two batters who reached double figures. Sri Lanka folded up for 70 runs in 18.2 overs.In an inexplicable hurry most batters took the ariel route and perished.Ayesha Rahman held onto 03 catches. Bangladesh Ladies bowled and fielded purposefully. Veteran opening bowler Panna Ghosh returned excellent figures of 04-1-10-5.Sri lanka ladies were relegated to vie for the Bronze Medal against minnws China whle Pakistan and Bangladesh with Sri Lankan J.C.Gamage as Coach will fight out for the Top Medal .Both matches will be completed tommorrow.
China is on top of the medal tally with 76 Golds.South Korea have won 28 while Japan have bagged 26.
13 World Records in Archery,Shooting and Weightlifting in addition to 21 Asian Records in Archery,Shooting,Swimming and Weightlifting have been established at the Games uoto now.
Haritha Perera @ the Main Media Center in Incheon, South Korea
