Herath and Thushari into 800m finals

Indunil Herath and Gayanthika Thushari qualified for the Men’s and Women’s 800m final respectively at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, as Sri Lanka went another day without winning a medal on Monday (27).

Running in the first heat of the Men’s 800m Herath finished third with a time of 1:47.54secs, which meant that, having missed out on an automatic qualification berth, he needed to wait till the other two heats were completed to know if he had booked a place in the final.

His time, which proved to be the third fastest overall, was enough for him to finish as a fastest qualifier.

In the Women’s 800m event, Thushari was one of two fastest qualifiers with a time 2:06.31secs that was enough for her to take the last spot in the finals.

But it also meant that Sri Lanka’s other athlete in the event, Nimali Liyanarachchi missed out, finishing just behind Thushari for a qualifiers spot.

In the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, Nilani Rathnayake put in a commendable effort leading the pack in the middle stages of the race before falling behind to finish sixth with a time 9:54.65.

In the Women's Karate -50kg 1/8 Final, Dinusha Kumari lost to Sukatendel Srunita Sari of Indonesua, while in the Men's -84kg 1/8 final Kavindu Lakshitha lost to Zeyun Ma of China.