By Dhammika Ratnaweera reporting from Jakartha
Sri Lankan number one women’s paddler Ishara Madurangi made 4-0 win over Pakistan player in the first round but she was later beaten by world number 5 Chinese player with straight four setter defeat. However Ishara was lucky to get 8 points each against this world rank 5 player twice in the 1st and 3rd sets to gain some valuable experience.ù
However men’s paddler Udaya Ranasinghe was unlucky when the match was withheld by Laos player in the first round game after playing one sets each. This game was halted due to an unexpected injury with both winning a set each. Vajira Wickramasinghe, the national Table Tennic coach said Udaya had a back injury before this match but he tried to continue becauase he was confident of winning the match.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka Volleyball team finished eighth for the first time in the Asian Games when they lost the play off match to Oman 5-2. Spikers made a good fight over Nepal team finally to record a 3-1 win and they will meet Vietnam on Friday.
Sri Lankan rugby team beat UAE 68/0 but they were beaten by South Korea 31/26. They will play Afganistan on Friday.
In the final day of athletics at the 18th Asian Games on Thursday, Sri Lankan medal hopes were dashed but 4×400 relay team comprised by Aruna Dharshana, Ajith Pushpakumara, Pasidu Kodikara and Kalinga Kumarage came up with superb finish to end the race missing narrowly the bronze medal to Japan.
25-year-old Kalinga Kumarage told srilankasports.com said that they were very happy to come up with this perofrmances with limited facilities. “We were to race with more competitive and experienced teams like with more exerienced runners and we were able to clock 3.02.74 minutes.” said Kalinga. They were miliseconds behind to the record set by Sugath Tillekaratnna, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Ranga Wimalasinghe and P. Ratnakumara with 3.02.71.
Sri Lankan sport Minister Faizer Musthafa was present to witness the race and took part in the presentation ceremony while NOC President Suresh Subramanium, Secretary Maxwell de Silva and Sports Director General Buwanaka Herath were among the spectators on Thursday.
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