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Easy sailing for Lalin and Janaka BANGKOK, Dec. 8 - Lalin Jeerasinghe and W. P. Janaka qualified for the 3rd round of the Enterprise Open Fleet Race of the Yachting Championships here last morning. If Sri Lankans finish among the first for they are assured of a place in the finals. Judging by yesterday's performance this could be easily achieved. Lalin who has three Asian Games and one Olympic event experience behind him piloted Sri Lanka as the Helnsman he hopes to sail to the finals. He was ably assisted by his crew member W. P. Janaka who is representing Sri Lanka only for the second time. The pair only had one point to win the first race. They comfortably beat the Korean pair who finished second with two points. Pakistan (3 points) and hosts (4) were placed third and fourth respectively. In the second Fleet event the Lankan pair did not go all out and finished third with 3 points while Korea (1) and India (2) was first and second while Pakistan (4) and Thailand (6) were placed fourth and fifth. The Sri Lankan pair now has a very good chance of entering the finals and picking up a medal from this event which has been completely neglected by the Sri Lankan sports authorities. They have never found sponsors and the sport was declared as dying sport. The Island also exclusively reported that the Yachting National coach Jeremy Bolling to whom part of this credit should go boarded the Asian Games bound Sri Lankan flight in a pair of jeans and a Tee-shirt since the authorities had not even handed him an official blazer or a tie. Sri Lanka's Ace Wind surfer Thusal Gunawardane who was unbeaten in his event for nearly a decade In Sri Lanka found the going very tough in both the IMCO Heavy Men Fleet races finished seventh (last) and L. de Silva also finishing last (6) Disappointing While the Yacht man were sailing towards a would be rare medal, the rest of the Sri Lankan who took part so far, never went beyond first round. The Rifle shooters and the swimmers who finished among the last two in all the events they participated proved this. Yesterday too in swimming in events Korean team was held and Geffari Dulapandan swam in the 100 Butterfly stroke to finish fifth out of seven in the third heat. Gihan Ranatunga in the 100M Butterfly heat too was placed seventh. Harini Jaysekera was in the 12th place in the 3M Spring Board event. Korea takes Gold Meanwhile the Koreans proved their mettle by annexing the Rugger Seven-a-side title by beating Japan 29-14. Thailand outplayed Taipei to 19-5 to take the silver. The 15-a-side Rugby contest is scheduled to commence tomorrow and the Sri Lankan team's Chef De Mission Maiya Gunasekera is confident of a medal from this event. "Our strength is in this area," he said. Squash player Saman Tilakaratne will be in action for the first time today. Ticket Sales hits 63 Million mark Total proceeds from the tickets sold for the opening ceremony of the 13th Asian Games have generated 63 million baht according to the sub-committee in charge of ticket sale. Kanis Isdu, a committee member, said the amount was reported by Power Telecom Co Ltd. the ticket sale representative. However, the breakdown of the figures has yet to be officially announced. "It is very close to the level estimated previously at 65 million bath," he said. The amount makes it possible for the proceeds from ticket sales throughout the Games, including the closing ceremony, to reach the target set at 200 million bath, he added. He also requested those who want to view the closing ceremony to buy tickets in advance for the event as there are many only a few tickets available. For those want to watch sports events, tickets can be purchased at the booths in front of the stadium. "It would be convenient that way. For popular sports such as Snooker, Soccer, Boxing and Swimming, tickets should be purchased in advance at the Power Telecom. Power Telecom is located on 24th floor of Lao Peng Nguan Building, Vihbavadi Rangsit Highway, opposite Thai International Office, Kanis said. Ananda awards ceremony on Dec. 10 Ananda College will hold its annual colours nite on December 10 at Kularatne Hall at 5.30 p.m. Six students will be awarded with 'Ananda Padma' awards for their achievements while 96 more will receive colours on this day. The chief guest will be the Minister for Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports, S. B. Dissanayake. Lumbini MV will hold its colours award ceremony today at Lumbini Hall commencing 10 a.m. Thilanga Sumathipala, President of the Cricket Board will be the chief guest while Anuruddha Polonnowita, Vice President, BCCSL and former test cricketer D. S. de Silva will be the guests of honour. (DR). Two quarter finals between Kalutara BA/Colombo BA and Air Force/Gampaha BA in the Inter Association Basketball Tournament and the Women's semifinal between Colombo BA and Army will be played at Kings Court today. Semi final in the Men's section between Army and Police will be played tomorrow at the same venue. The tournament is organised and conducted by Amateur Basketball Federation. Colombo to host ITP Tournament Sri Lanka has had the good fortune to be able to host the ITP (International Tennis Federation) South Asian 13 and Under Circuit 1998 in Colombo. Eight countries including Sri Lanka, namely - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Maldives are participating in this programme which is conducted under the direction of Mr. Suresh Menon, the ITF Development Officer for Asia. In addition to the above, an ITF Central and West Asian team selected on their performances in the Central and West Asian Circuit will also participate in this programme. This team is comprised of 2 boys and 1 girl from Uzbekistan, 1 boy and 2 girls from Kazakhstan, 1 boy from Turkmenistan, 1 girl from Tajikistan, 1 boy from Oman, 1 boy from Iran and 1 girl from Syria. The programme commenced with a training Workshop on 6th December and will be completed on 8th December. Thereafter, there will be 2 tournaments each lasting 5 days commencing 9th December. The unique feature of these tournaments will be that they will be conducted on a feed-in-consolation basis; whereby every competitor will be playing a match every day, although they may be eliminated at some stage in the main draw. By this process, each player will be ranked according to their performance in each tournament. Based on this rankings, 4 boys and 4 girls will be selected to represent the South Asian Team for the 14 & Under East Asian Circuit in 1999. There will be a singles tournament for boys and girls based on the above format and a Doubles competition for each category on the normal knock out basis. Sri Lanka will be represented by the following players. Boys Girls |
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