Monday Sep 23, 2024
Monday Sep 23, 2024
Friday, 15 September 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Hishan Welmilla
The Sri Lankan contingent, comprising 21 sportsmen and sportswomen together with six officials, left the island today to take part in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games slated to unfold from 17-27 September in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Basketball (3x3), Belt Wrestling, Billiard Sports, Bowling, Chess, DanceSport, Equestrian Jumping, Futsal, Indoor Athletics, Indoor Tennis, Ju-Jitsu, Kickboxing, Kurash, Muay, Sambo, Short Course Swimming, Taekwondo, Track Cycling Traditional Wrestling, Weightlifting and Wrestling are the 21 sports disciplines lined up for the event and Sri Lanka will take part in Chess, Indoor Athletics, Taekwondo, Weightlifting and Wrestling at the games.
Captain Chandana Bopagoda will be the Chef de Mission of the Sri Lanka contingent.
Hemasha Eshan (Men’s 60 metres), Indunil Herath (Men’s 800 metres), Manjula Kumara (Men’s High Jump), Amila Jayasirti (Men’s Long Jump), Gayanthika Abeyrathna (Women’s 800 metres) and Vidusha Lakshani (Women’s Triple Jump) will compete in the indoor athletics events and Sajith Jayalal will be the coach of the athletics team .
Sri Lanka is also fielding three weightlifters in the men’s category and E.A.D.K.D. Egodawatte (56kg) C.S.S.P. Wijesooriya (62 kg) and W.P.U. Charuka (105 kg) will compete in the events. P.K.N. Dayan will join them as the coach.
In Men’s Wrestling, Sri Lanka’s medal prospects will depend on three male and female athletes this time. C.D. Fernando (57 kg), W.C.M. Perera (65 kg) and T.K.S. Maduranga (74 kg) will compete in the Men’s event while H.A.N. Karunasena ( 48 kg), M.D.S. Madushani (52 kg) and W.M.D.D.K. Weerabahu (58 kg) will vie for top honours in the women’s event. N.K.J. Piyaratne will be the coach of the wrestlers.
T.B.R. Anura Bandara (54 kg) and L.C. Sampath Liyanage (57 kg) will represent Sri Lanka in Men’s Taekwondo with M.R. Romesh shouldering the coaching responsibilities.
In the Men’s and Women’s Chess competition, Rajeendra Senaka Kalugampitiya and Romesh Chandra Weerawardena will compete in the Classical, Rapid Men’s team, Blitz Men’s team and Under-23 Rapid Men’s team events.
Mohammed Saumy Zainab and Dasuni Hansika Mendis will represent Sri Lanka in the Classical, Rapid Women’s team, Blitz Women’s team and Under-23 Rapid Women’s team events. Buddhi Nirukshi Panagoda will be their coach during the competition.
Ashgabat, the host city, has made all the arrangements for a comfortable stay as the Government of Turkmenistan is fully involved in the project and is handling things with the utmost care. There will be 21 sports at Ashgabat 2017 across 15 venues over 12 days of competition. Ashgabat was awarded the games by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in 2010.The 5th AIMAG Executive Committee will organise and run the games in cooperation with the OCA and nearly 6,000 athletes from 65 countries are expected to showcase their talents during the 10-day event.
