09-22-2003, 08:51 AM
[size=14]Barefooted Sujeewa wins silver
Sri Lanka wins first medal in the 15th Asian championships
AFP- Saturday- Sri Lanka's barefoot runner Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena made her country proud by winning the sliver medal with a timing of 34:46.99 in the women's 10,000 meters event at the Asian athletics championships Saturday. This was Sri Lanka's first medal in the event and the athlete's first medal at the Asian level. The gold medal was won by Versatile Chinese distance runner Sun Yingjie. Aruna Devi of India settled for the bronze clocking 37:23.28.
Fresh from a bronze medal finish at the Paris world championships last month, 24 year-old Sun a Beijing native blew the race apart at the 2,000m mark, lapping the eventual second-place finisher with 2,800m to go en route to a 32min 37.04sec result.
"My time here was not that good because of the poor quality of the opposition," said the petite runner, who also runs the marathon and the 5,000m discipline, as well as being a threat in the 20km walk.
Record-breaking Huang Qiuyan began the rout by winning the women's triple jump crown.
Her 14.39m effort erased the five year-old Asian championship record of 14.11m set by compatriot Ren Ruiping, as well improving on Huang's Busan Asian Games standard of 14.28m.
Still, it fell short of Huang's personal best of 14.72m, which is the standing Asian record.
"I did okay, but I would have been happier if I broke the Asian record," she told AFP.
http://www.island.lk/2003/09/22/sports01.html
Sri Lanka wins first medal in the 15th Asian championships
AFP- Saturday- Sri Lanka's barefoot runner Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena made her country proud by winning the sliver medal with a timing of 34:46.99 in the women's 10,000 meters event at the Asian athletics championships Saturday. This was Sri Lanka's first medal in the event and the athlete's first medal at the Asian level. The gold medal was won by Versatile Chinese distance runner Sun Yingjie. Aruna Devi of India settled for the bronze clocking 37:23.28.
Fresh from a bronze medal finish at the Paris world championships last month, 24 year-old Sun a Beijing native blew the race apart at the 2,000m mark, lapping the eventual second-place finisher with 2,800m to go en route to a 32min 37.04sec result.
"My time here was not that good because of the poor quality of the opposition," said the petite runner, who also runs the marathon and the 5,000m discipline, as well as being a threat in the 20km walk.
Record-breaking Huang Qiuyan began the rout by winning the women's triple jump crown.
Her 14.39m effort erased the five year-old Asian championship record of 14.11m set by compatriot Ren Ruiping, as well improving on Huang's Busan Asian Games standard of 14.28m.
Still, it fell short of Huang's personal best of 14.72m, which is the standing Asian record.
"I did okay, but I would have been happier if I broke the Asian record," she told AFP.
http://www.island.lk/2003/09/22/sports01.html
Truth 'll prevail