Lankan pupil bridges generation gap with gold

8220;This is the first time that Sri Lanka has won a gold medal in 24 years,8221; Darsha said. 8220;I am extremely happy, not only because I have won the gold but it was my coach who had won the last gold in 1974.8221;

Coach Sunil Gumawardeme was a member of the 1974 winning 4215;100-metre relay team. Sri Lanka8217;s Susantika Jayasinghe, favoured in the women8217;s 100, didn8217;t start at all. After pulling a hamstring in yesterday8217;s semifinals, she went home today.

8220;This morning we took her to the clinic and it was apparent that she cannot run. She wanted to go back home as soon as possible,8221; said Sri Lankan teamchief Maya Gunasekhara.

But came the dual gold medal winning achievement by Darsha and Tillekeratne and the Lankans had more than made up for the disappointment.

Japan8217;s Koji Ito rebounded from a slow start to claim honours today as Asia8217;s fastest man, and looked on the bright side of not joining the exclusive club of sprinters faster than 10 seconds.

8220;At least I excited everyone,8221; he said after winning the 100 meters in 10.05. He had raised hopes by setting an Asian record of 10.00 in yesterday8217;s semifinals.

Thais tame Koreans

But Asia8217;s co-hosts for the 2002 World Cup soccer finals South Korea and Japan suffered the embarrassment of not reaching the Asian Games semifinals. Japan went out in the second round, and Thailand upset South Korea in the quarter-finals 2-1, on Thatwachai Damrong-ongtrakul8217;s 40-metre goal six minutes into extra-time, when the Thais were down to nine men.

Iran joined the Thais in the semifinals with an easy 4-0 victory over Uzbekistan. Bayern Munich star Ali Daeiscored three goals within seven minutes in the second half.

In other quarter-finals, China beat Turkmenistan 3-0 and Kuwait defeated Qatar in a penalty shootout 3-1 after 150 minutes of scoreless play. In the semifinals Wednesday, China meets Iran and Thailand takes on Kuwait.

On the track, Ito was the slowest of the eight finalists out of the blocks, costing him any chance of becoming the first non-black athlete to crack 10 seconds for the 100.

Thailand8217;s Seeharwong Reanchai edged Japan8217;s Yasukatsu Otsuki for the silver medal in a photo finish after both clocked 10.31.

With Jayasinghe gone in the women8217;s 100, China8217;s Asian record holder Li Xuemei won in a wind-aided 11.05 seconds, ahead of teammate Li Yali. Li Xuemei said she hardly slept overnight because of diarrhea and fever.

Aside from Li8217;s victory in the women8217;s 100, China had golds in the women8217;s 10 km walk, by Liu Hongyu the men8217;s shot put, by Liu Hao, and the heptathlon, where Shen Shengfei amassed 5,817 points for the seven events.Kazakstan8217;s Svetlana Kazanina was second at 5,775.

That and a victory in mixed doubles table tennis boosted its total for the games to 84 golds. For the second consecutive day, South Korea was the biggest winner, piling up seven golds and lifting its total to 43. The Koreans won three in Greco-Roman wrestling, one in women8217;s team foil fencing and one in weightlifting. In addition, Lee Yong-Sun won the women8217;s javelin event and cyclist Ji Sung-Hwan beat Olympic bronze medalist Takanobu Jumonji of Japan in the men8217;s one km time trial.

Japan had 34, gaining gold Monday from Ito, women8217;s 10,000-meter winner Yuko Kawakami, and Miya Tachibana, who won the solo synchronized swimming.

Qatar8217;s Mohamad Taib won the men8217;s 1,500 for the third successive Games. He slowed down near the end, waving his rivals closer, then turned around and made a rude gesture down the track.

Hong Kong won its second gold of the Games when Hui Cheung-Kwok emerged the winner in men8217;s masters bowling competition. Taiwan8217;s Chou Miao-Linwas the women8217;s winner, boosting her nation8217;s total to 15 golds.

Even before their soccer upset, the Thais, who take numbers seriously were celebrating winning their 13th gold medal of the 13th Asian Games yesterday.

Their original target had been 10 golds at their home Games. Their best previous was 12 at the 1966 Games in Bangkok.