Sri Lankan Youth Fail To Live Up To Expectation

• First Youth Olympic Games 2010 – Singapore

By Hishan Welmilla

The Sri Lankan youth perfomed below expectations in the first ever youth Olympic Games currently underway in Singapore. Not a single athlete was able to progress to the finals of their respective events. But two athletes achieved their personnel best in their respective events to derive some consolation.
Skipper of the Sri Lankan contingent, Heshan Unamboowe, registered a new Sri Lankan record  in men’s 50m back stroke event. He bettered his previous record timing of 27.81 seconds to 27.70 seconds to re-write the record books in his name. Unamboowe also swam in the 100m back stroke but failed to progress further.
Meanwhile, Indunil Herath, the only Sri Lankan to feature in athletic events, finished his event – Boys’ 1000m, recording his personnel best. Indunil crossed the finishing line as the fourth runner in the first heat of the qualifying round with a time of 2:30:83, surpassing his previous best timing of 2:38:19.
Dilshan Kariyawasam created history by becoming the first Sri Lankan male Olympian to take part in a Youth Olympic event, but failed to progress to the second round in the boys’ badminton event as he lost two of his three outings. Kariyawasam managed only to record a win against Australia’s M. A. Boris (21-14, 21-5) in a Pool D match.
Lekha Shehani also recorded one victory in her three individual games in girls’ badminton. She managed to beat Tiaese Tapumannaia of Tuvalu in a Pool E match.
Sri Lankan female swimmer Madawee Weeratunga placed sixth out of seven swimmers with a time of 1:05.38 in the women’s 100m free style. She also competed in the 50m free style event and finished first in the heats with a time of 29.71 seconds and proceeded to the semi finals, but could not find a lane in the finals.
The other two Sri Lankan contenders Nuwani Navodya and Hasintha Shashiranga of Dharmasoka College will represent Sri Lanka in men’s and women’s table tennis singles respectively, which got underway from Saturday.