Lankans ready for Hangzhou challenge

If someone suggests that Asian Games is serious business, no one would dare to disagree with him. Yet, from a Lankan perspective, are we to once again write off the rest of the flock, barring the defending Gold medal holders in Asian Games Cricket - both our male and female willow-wielders? Ironically, the rest of the others do have a point to prove. The reason? Lankans have not been fruitful in their Medal yield since 2006.

 

The fable professes that if someone dares to knock on the door, it would open - now a few Lankans definitely are knocking on the door and they have proved that at the recently concluded highly acclaimed Asian Championships, in Thailand. It is only a time that it would be put to real test at the Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 to October 8, 2023.

 

Athletes in the calibre of Yupun Abeykoon – the sole male 100m runner to break the 10secs barrier in South Asia, leads the Lankan promise. He is among the best of the rest in the short-distance realm. In his day, he definitely brings out that WOW factor into Lankan athletics, in the same manner that female runners like Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Dharsha along with Sugath Tillekeratne did in the 90s.  

 

When one starts to set the ball rolling, the others follow. The best example is the impressive show the set of young athletes blazed the trail in Bangkok. There were records and important statistics in volumes. Sri Lanka ended up in the 4th position out of 42 Asian countries that featured in the Championships.  List of Championship golds were listed as Japan 16, China 8, India 6 and Sri Lanka 3 (with a total of 8 medals). 

 

Since the conclusion of that memorable show, the Lankan public has begun to believe and rely on Lankan athletics once again. There is no need to mention, petite Tharushi Dissanayake is already a household name with a record-breaking Gold in the 800 metres and Silver in the mixed 4 x400 relay and women’s 4 x400 relay. The other two gold medals were won by a 400metres women’s event – Nadeesha Ramanayake (52:61secs.) and 4x400 men’s – Aruna Dharshana, Rajitha Niranjan, Pabasara Niku, Kalinga Kumara and *Pasindu Kodikara (took part in the heats and eligible for Gold) (3:01.56).

 

The list of medal winners read as – 4x400 mixed relay – Aruna Dharshana, Tharushi Dissanayake, Kalinga Kumara and Nadeesha Ramanayake – (Silver – 3:15.41), 4x400 women’s relay – Nadeesha Ramanayake, Lakshima Mendis, Harshini Fernando and Tharushi Dissanayake, Dilhani Lekamge – women’s Javelin throw (Bronze – 60.93.) Gayanthika Artigala women’s 1500m (Bronze -4:14.39).

 

In the 2014 Incheon Games in South Korea, where the last time cricket was a part of the Asian Games, the Lankans carried a strong contingent under former international senior professionals Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal, who both later went on to captain the National team. Even at that juncture, they were not strangers in the Lankan National Squad. As expected, Lankan men carried away the Gold beating Afghanistan in the final, while Chamari Atapattu, who led the women’s team, brought home the bronze. At present, she has turned out to be a cricketing celebrity in the women’s international circuit.

 

Sri Lankan Cricket authorities, considering the tight cricket timetable, will be sending the Development Squad to Hangzhou, but surely that too would be a fighting unit, considering the talent at hand in Lankan men’s cricket. Chamari Atapattu, who already has one Asian Games Bronze, will be leading the female cricket counterpart, looking to climb a step higher with their good international exposure lately.

 

E-sports and Chess are new to the Asian Games circuit and are also unknown territory. Yet, if they are successful in their mission in Hangzhou, it would be a proud moment for Lankan sports.

 

On this premise, we would suggest we are not just Asian write-offs in sports. We have the inner strength to explore how to accomplish the inexplicable. If these athletes do possess the inner drive, they have the capability of turning tables. On your marks...get set...and the rest is history. Yet, they must also remember that international athletic medals do not come out of a genie-in-the-bottle.