Ambepitiya guides Sri Lanka towards second Gold

Chris DHAMBARAGE in Pune

Sprint sensation Shehan Ambepitiya anchored Sri Lanka towards their second gold medal as they won the boys 4 X 100 metres relay final with a new record on day three of the Third Commonwealth Youth Games track and field events continued at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune India yesterday.

Ambepitiya added the finishing touches with a spectacular effort during the final lap to clock a record timing of 40.85 seconds while pushing Australia into the second place with 41.08 seconds followed by Canada with a timing of 41.31 seconds.

Ambepitiya started with the odds heavily against him and was trailing well behind when he took over for the final and deciding lap while competing in lane four. But he lived upto expectations and reconfirmed his status as the fastest athlete in the Games by providing a magnificent last 100 metres under tremendous pressure.

The Sri Lankan boys relay contingent comprised of Ranil Jayawardena, Roshan Chamara, Keith de Mel and Shehan Ambepitiya.

Earlier Shehan Ambepitiya put himself in contention for a sprint double by qualifying to run in the semifinals of the boys 200 metres semifinals scheduled for today. Ambepitiya who has already emerged as the fastest athlete at the Commonwealth Games put up a pleasing performance to win his heat with an impressive timing of 21.69 seconds.

The schoolboy from Gatyeway College will compete in the semifinals at 4.00 p.m followed by the final at 6.00 p.m today. Ambepitiya running in lane two got off to a splendid start and then consolidated his position to finish ahead of his closest rival Jason Rogers from St. Kits and Nevis who clocked 21.71 seconds followed by Kevin Moore from Australia (21.73 seconds).

Ambepitiya of course will go into the semifinals under pressure having returned the third best timing among the competitors who have qualified for this event. Australia’s Ray Williams had the credit of recording the best timing when he clocked 21.40 seconds while competing in heat number four.

In addition India’s Kumar Mallick also impressed while returning the second best timing in the 200 metres with an effort of 21.46 seconds while participating in heat number one.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s Jithmi Jayawickrema and Amritha Muttiah both made their exit from the girl’s tennis tournament on the third day of the competition. Jayawickrema suffered a straight set 6-4, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Jade Windley from Gibraltar while Muttiah went down to Heather Watson of Guernsey also n straight sets 6-1, 6-3 in the pre quarterfinals.

The Sri Lankan pair also failed to make any progress in the girl’s doubles tournament as they were beaten in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 against the Indian combination of Kyra Shroff and Poojashree Venkatesha in the quarterfinals.