Abeykoon into 100m semifinals, boxers Prasanna, Cooray win

Yupun Abeykoon lived up to his billing as South Asia’s fastest man by winning his heat to qualify for the semifinals of the men’s 100 metres while two boxers Rukmal Prasanna and Sajeewani Cooray performed to their potential to win their round of 16 contests in Birmingham yesterday morning.

However, the good news on the field was soured by the fact that two members of Sri Lanka’s contingent – a Judo official and a player – went missing from the Games Village on Monday, according to the Chef-de-Mission Maj. Gen. Dampath Fernando (rtd).

Gayanthika Abeyratne running in the women’s 800m failed to qualify for the final finishing fifth out of six runners in heat two despite achieving a personal best of two minutes 01.20 seconds.

Abeykoon was the cynosure of all eyes at Alexander Stadium yesterday when he won heat six clocking 10.06 seconds running in lane five ahead of Trinidad & Tobago’s Kion Benjamin (10.34) and Nigeria’s Godson Oke (10.36). This is the first time a Sri Lankan will be featuring in the 100m semifinals at the Commonwealth Games since Shehan Ambepitiya qualified for the 100 and 200 semifinals in 2010 Delhi. Abeykoon who became the first South Asian to clock under 10 seconds, achieved his initial goal of qualifying for the semifinals.

There were a total of ten heats with the first two in each heat (Q) and the next seven fastest (q) advancing to the semifinals.

Army southpaw Rukmal Prasanna fought steadily against a rugged 29-year-old opponent from Kenya Hassan maintaining a good pace, unleashing solid combinations using his powerful left cross to good effect to earn a split decision and advance to the quarter-finals in the bantamweight class. The 23-year-old former Sri Lanka youth international gradually stepped up the tempo displaying his ability to fight on the inside but more significantly controlled the contest by leading the fight by displaying sound ringcraft. Prasanna was a clear winner with one judge scoring 30-27 in his favour.

Air Force’s Sajeewani Cooray prevailed over a game opponent from Pakistan Mehreen to advance to the quarter-finals in the women’s featherweight category. She hardly needed to step up a gear to win by a unanimous decision virtually outclassing her rival with the majority of the judges scoring 30-25 in her favour.

Results

MEN 100m:

Heat 1: 1. Favour Oghene Tejiri (Nigeria) 10.12 Q, 2. Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (England) 10.14 Q, 3 Nadale Buntin (St Kitts and Nevis) 10.37 q

Heat 2: 1. Akani Simbine (South Africa) 10.10 Q, 2 Jake Doran (Australia) 10.39 q

Heat 3: 1. Ojie Edoburun (England) 10.27 Q, 2. Rikkoi Brathwaite (British Virgin Islands) 10.28 q

Heat 4: 1. Raymond Ekevwo (Nigeria) 10.14 Q, 2. Kemar Bailey-Cole (Jamaica) 10.15 q

Heat 5: 1. Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya) 10.07 Q, 2. Emmanuel Eseme (Cameroon) 10.08 Q, 3. Gilbert Hainuca (Namibia) 10.31 q

Heat 6: 1. Yupun Abeykoon (Sri Lanka) 10.06 Q, 2. Kion Benjamin (Trinidad & Tobago) 10.34 Q, 3 Godson Oke (Nigeria) 10.36 q

Heat 7: 1. Benjamin Azamati (Ghana) 10.19 Q, 2 Jeremiah Azu (Wales) 10.35 q

Heat 8: 1. Conroy Jones (Jamaica) 10.28 Q, 2. Adam Thomas (Scotland) 10.30 Q, 3. Eric Harrison Jr (Trinidad & Tobago) 10.37 q

Heat 9: 1. Rohan Browning (Australia) 10.10 Q, 2. Samwel Bitonyake Imeta (Kenya) 10.12 Q, 3. Cejhae Green (Antigua & Barbuda) 10.16 q

Heat 10: 1. Jerod Elcock (Trinidad & Tobago) 10.26 Q, 2. Emanuel Archibald (Guyana) 10.28 Q, 3. Stephan Charles (St Lucia) 10.29 q, 4. Sean Safo-Antwi (Ghana) 10.33 q

BOXING: MEN:

Over 51kg-54kg (Bantamweight) Round of 16: Rukmal Prasanna beat Shaffi Bakari Hassan (Kenya) WP 3:2 WOMEN :Over 54kg-57kg (Featherweight) Round of 16: Sajeewani Cooray Muthuthanthri beat Mehreen (Pakistan) WP 5:0