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Sri Lanka's athletes dominate

It was Sri Lanka's day in athletics at the South Asian Federation Games in Kathmandu. The athletes from the island nation dominated the proceedings, winning six of the ten golds medals at stake on the second day of the compeitition, with their star sprinter Damayanthi Darsha coming up with yet another record-shattering effort in the 400 metres to complete a golden double.

Darsha, the 24-year-old double gold medallist at the Bangkok Asian Games who won the 100 metres sprint yesterday, won the 400 metres gold in a new record time of 52.11 seconds. In the process, she erased Shiny Wilson's 1995 mark of 52.12 seconds by a hundredth of a second.

Sriyani Kulawansa rewrote her own record in the 100 metres hurdles, clocking 13.12 seconds. The old mark of 13.34 was set in 1995.

Lanky Rohan Premkumar clocked 45.77 seconds in the men's 400 metres to account for the third record of the day.

India, who dominated yesterday's show, winning seven of the nine athletics golds, produced a below par performance today, managing a mere three gold.

Sri Lanka won five of the six golds in track events - men's 400m, 110m hurdles, 800m and women's 400m and 100 m hurdles. The other gold came in the men's long jump.

India's gold medal winners were K Shankar, in the 5,000 metres; Hridayanand, discuss throw; and Pramod Kumar Tiwari, in the hammer throw.

In addition to the three gold medals, India picked eight silver and two bronze medals, finishing second behind Sri Lanka in most of the events.

Pakistan opened their gold tally when Rehana Kausar won the women's high jump gold. She cleared 1.69 metres, to push India's Jaicy Thomas (1.66m) and Jayanthi Sudarraj (1.60m) to the second and third places respectively.

In 1995, Susanthika Jayasrnghe caused a severe dent to India's hopes. This time it is Damayanthi. Having won the 100 metres sprint with a career best performance, which was even better than her Asian Games time, Damayanthi was clear winner in the 400 metres. India's Beenamol could not cope with the giant strides of her illustrious rival and expectedly finished second.

Damayanthi was quick off the blocks. The leeway kept on increasing as the Sri Lankan accelerated towards the end and won by a margin of three or four metres in a new record time of 52.11 secs. Beenamol (52.69 secs) and S N De Soyza (Sri Lanka) won the silver and bronze respectively.

Results:
Men:
400m: Rohan Premkumar (SL) 45.55 secs, P Ramachandran (Ind) 46.10, Lijo David (Ind) 46.86.
800m: Ranakumar (SL) 1 min 51.08 secs, Anil Mathew (Ind) 1:52.23, Md Tariq (Pak) 1:52.42.
110m hurdles: Mahesh Perera (SL) 14.22 secs, P T Tesudoss (Ind) 14.31, Md Shah (Pak) 14.33.

5000m: K Shankar (Ind) 14 min 49:52.00.
Long jump: P K S Rohita (SL) 7.76m, Sanjay Kumar Rai (Ind) 7.63, Banaris Khan (Pak) 7.23.
Discus: Hridayanand (Ind) 53.11m, Md Javid (Pak) 51.92, T Falei Leema (SL) 47.28.
Hammer throw: Pramod Tiwari (Ind) 65.84m, Istiyak Ahmed (Ind) 61.00, Ghulam Bari (Pak) 59.35.

Women:
400m: Damayanthi Darasha (SL) 52.11 secs, Beenamol (Ind) 52.59, S N De Soyza (SL)53.95.
100 hurdles: Sriyani Kulawansa (SL) 13.12 secs, Anuradha Biswal (Ind) 13.72, Inoka Umayani (SL) 14.77.
High jump: Rehana Kausar (Pak) 1.69 m, Jaicy Thomas (Ind) 1.66, Jayanthi Sundaraj (Ind) 1.60.

Indian lifters excel

Indian lifters started their medal hunt in in a grand style, winning both the golds at stake on the opening day of the weightlifting events.

T Muthu gave India the first gold when he easily won the 56 kg category with a total lift of 240 kg (snatch 105 kg/jerk 135 kg). Pakistan's Ghafoor Ishtiaq (238 kg) and Nepal's D Rakesh Ranjeer (220 kg) were second and third respectively.

M Arun made it a successful day for India when he won the 62 kg event with a total lift of 280 kg. Pakistan's Irfan Islam (268 kg) and Bangladesh's Hamidul Islam (243 kg) were second and third respectively.

The revised weight categories, which were introduced for the first time in this year's edition, did not bother the Indian lifters who performed creditably.

Muthu started with 100 kg in the snatch and improved on that effort by five kgs in the second. He, however, faltered in the third when the barbel was loaded with 107.5 kg. Ghafoor, on the other hand, improved by five kgs in every lift, starting with 95 kg in the first and cleared 100 kg in the second. He tied with the Indian in the snatch easily, clearing 105 kg in his third and last attempt.

But it was a jerk, which enabled the Indian march ahead of the Pakistani. Muthu started with 130 kg, while Ghafoor started with 127 kg, then cleared 132 kg in the second, before trying 137.5 kg in his third and final attempt in vain. Muthu easily cleared 135 kg on his second attempt to assure India of a gold. He then opted for 140 in his third and final attempt, which proved abortive.

In the 62 kg event, Arun hardly faced any threat. He cleared 120 in snatch in his second attempt before failing in his last attempt while opting for 125 kg. Irafan played it safe, increasing his every lift by five kg to gain a 2.5 kg lead over the India, finishing the snatch at 122.5 kg. But it was in jerk that the Indian asserted his supremacy to ensure a gold.

After Irfan finished his attempts clearing 145 kg, Arun straightaway opted for 150 kg and cleared it with elan for the gold. His next two lifts were a mere formality. He opted for 160 kg and cleared it in the third after faltering in the second lift.

Nisha Millet makes waves

India's domination in the pool continued unabated as Nisha Millet sunk yet another record on her way to winning two more golds in the swimming events.

Millet, who won the 100 metres freestyle gold yesterday, was involved in a neck and neck race with her compatriot Shikha Tandon before wimming the 400 metres gold by one hundreth of a second in a record time of 4 min 38.29. The effort bettered Sangeetha Rao's mark of 4. 55.79 seconds, set in the 1991 Games.

In a battle between two Indians, Shikha Tandon gave her illustrious compatriot Millet a run for her money before losing in a photo-finish by a split second. Though Tandon also bettered the SAF Games record, she had to be content with the silver.

Nisha also won the 100 metres backstroke for her fourth gold of the Games. She finished ahead of her sister Reshma in 1 min 12.12 seconds. The latter clocked 1 min 13.03 seconds.

, Nisha also anchored the Indian team to the 4x100 freestyle gold yesterday.

In the men's events, India suffered a reverse when N Suresh Reddy lost to Pakistan's Kamal Salman Masud in the 200 metres butterfly. T K Senthil Kumar and Kailash Nath won the 200 metres backstroke and 400 metres freestyle to swell India's medal tally.

India have thus far won ten out of the 11 gold medals decided in the swimming events.

Maldives in football semis

The Maldives today became the first team to enter the semi-finals of the football event when they defeated Bangladesh 2-1 in a Group B match at the Dasarath stadium today.

All the goals came in the second half.

For Maldives, who scored a 4-0 win over Sri Lanka in the Games' opener, this was their second victory in the group and the first against Bangladesh in six meetings.

The match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on September 29 will decide the other semi-finalist from this group.

UNI