A nation came to a stand-still this afternoon as the Captain of the Sri Lankan contingent Niluka Karunarathne took on Indian Parupali Kashyap to qualify for the Men’s single quarterfinals.
Sadly the fighting Sri Lankan lost the battle to his neighbour 21/14, 13/21, 21/09 in a three game thriller.
Karunaratne started off the game brightly taking a quick 5 points while conceding only one point. But thereafter, the Indian began to gain some momentum with a few powerful smashes that set him up with an opportunity to go for the win.
The Sri Lankan’s sharpness dropped as he continued to make a few unforced errors that took the pressure off the Indian who eventually took the lead. In the first set ,the Indian came from being four points behind to go four points ahead. After taking the lead he seemed to be quite composed displaying some exquisite drop shots and powerful smashes to help his cause.
Parupali seemed more than happy to smash everything that was within range leaving Niluka with very little time to react. The Sri Lankan looked out of sorts with luck not going his way on most occasions. Parupali finished the game off with a sublime cross court winner to take the first in the best of three matches 21/14.
The second game began much like the first with Niluka dominating, however this time, the Sri Lankan stamped his authority on his opponent looking much sharper and playing with more intent. Niluka employed a much better smash than in the first half that helped his cause and reduced the possibility of a good return from the Indian Parupali. Niluka took a huge lead after the good start that kept him nearly 12 points apart, but lost momentum in the final stages of the game as the Indian won seven back to back points when Niluka was on match point.
The Sri Lankan managed to take the match in to the third and final game that was to decide the winner. However, Parupali continued with the momentum he had got into and affected early pressure on the Sri Lankan. Niluka lost his focus committing possibly a few fatal errors that lifted the Indians game who capitalized on these mistakes and slowly increased the lead to over seven making it very difficult for Niluka to come back. The third game was filled with long rallies that included some breathtaking shots exhibiting the quality of both these shuttlers. Niluka who had a following back home egging him on, found his shot going too wide or falling short hitting the net, while Parupali managed to find the net cord on many occasions. The Indian eased to victory in the third game with a 12 point margin to win the match and qualify for the next round.
The Sri Lankan showed spirit right throughout the game displaying enormous amount of determination and heart right from the start of the match.
ThePapare.com Congratulates Niluka Karunarathne on his valiant efforts at the London 2012 Olympics and together with its readers wish him more strength for the future.
Reshika Udugampola emerged 6th Heat 2
The heats of the Women’s 100m free style began today with Sri Lankan Reshika competing in Heat 2. Reshika clocked 1:04.93 to come sixth place in her heat. She finished strong to come from behind to overtake Moshi Magdelena who was ahead of her at the 50m mark. Jade Howard of Zambia won Heat 2 with a timing of 59.35. Tang Yi of China was the fastest in the Heats clocking a time of 53.28 just 10 milliseconds short of an Olympic Record.
However, Reshika fails to qualify for the next round after being places 44th out of the 48 swimmers that raced today.
