Late City Edition

The Island, Tuesday 5th December, 2006 Impressive fight-back by Thilina and Rohana Doha, (Monday) - Sri Lanka’s clinching the first two sets within a gles round 32, Kalpani and Deepika men’s doubles table tennis duo, space of six minutes (first set lasted failed to make any impact. Kalpani Thilina Piyadasa and Rohana only for two minutes) 11-2 and 11-8, was given a torrid time by her Sirisena produced some stunning but Thilina and Roahan showed Japanese opponent with a straight performances to reach the pre-quar- their class as they came back four set win that saw her making an ter finals at the Asian Games here strongly in the decisive third set to early exit from the Games. Thai ped- yesterday. steal the show. dler, Anisara Muangsuk proved too They were to meet number 3 Having won the third set 11-7, much for Deepika as she claimed a seeded Korean duo Lee Jung Woo they grabbed the fourth and fifth four straight set win. and Oh Sang Eun at 10.30 p.m Sri sets 11-9 and 11-5. Lankan time at the Al-Arabia But their women’s counterparts Godamanna shines, but……. Indoor Hall. Amidst loud cheering Kalpani Herath and Deepika The tennis competition of the from the school children who came Rodrigo suffered a humiliating 15th Asian Games was kicked off in their numbers, the Lankan lads defeat at the hands of a Hong Kong yesterday but the Lankan lads com- fought back brilliantly in the third pair. peting in the men’s team round six- set onwards to record a stunning The Hong Kong lasses recorded teen were beaten by Thai players. victory over O. Ali and F. Gubran of an easy win clinching the first three Rajeev Rajapakse lost the first Yemen. sets 11-3, 11-5 and 11-5 within a space match 2-nil to his Thai opponent The opponents were well on of just 15 minutes. Danai Udomchoke but Harshana Miniruwani Samrakoon swims in heat 1 of the women’s 200m butterfly swimming event at the Hamad Aquatic Centre course to a comfortable victory after In the women’s table tennis sin- Godamanna produced some good tennis to beat Sanchai during the 15th Asian Games in Doha, yesterday. Ratiwatana 2-1 in the sec- the Qatar Sports Club Indoor Hall Fahim (Women’s 400m freestyle), ing 3 hours and 11.39 minutes while ond singles. Sri Lanka yesterday. In men’s 71Kg category Daniel Lee (Men’s 50m freestyle) Ayesha Sumanaweera failed to fin- needed to win the dou- Susantha Attanayake was beaten by and Milinda Wickramsinghe ish the race. bles event to clinch the Japanese player Masahiro (Men’s 50m freestyle) making first Meanwhile, with all eyes set on match. But the Thai play- Takamatsu while Harshani Herath round exits. Apart from Lee and the Chinese and Japanese swim- ers showed their class as was made to suffer the same fate by Mailinda who finished third and mers, the youngest swimmer taking they cruised to a 2-0 win a the Filipino, Estie Gay. sixth, all the other swimmers fin- part in the 15th Asian Games, Amer over Sri Lanka. ished last in their respective heats. Ali of Iraq went almost unnoticed Swimmers sink Meanwhile, Sri Lankan rowers in the men’s 200m back stroke. Ali, Disappointing day The Sri Lankan swimmers had a in men’s lightweight double sculls- who turned just 10 three months for judokas nightmare right throughout the repechage 4 and lightweight single back, did not break any records or The Sri Lanka’s men’s Games and today they added more sculls-repechage 4, finished last in win any medals in the first swim at and women’s Judokas woes to their pathetic performances their respective events. the Games but made a huge impres- failed to make any on the pool with Heshan In women’s road race cycling, Sri sion. impression here at the Unamboowe (Men’s 200m back- Lanka’s South Asian Games gold Ali is one of three Iraqi young- Asian Games as they lost stroke), Miniruwani Samarakoon medallist Sriyalatha sters participating in swimming both opening battles at (Women’s 200m butterfly), Imara Wickramsinghe finished 21st clock- events in Doha. Hoggard and Clarke heroes on day four Thai weightlifter breaks world record ADELAIDE - Matthew Hoggard captured seven wick- four but lost Alastair Cook for nine along the way to Scoreboard ets as England took a 97-run lead over Australia with reach stumps on 59 for one on a lifeless pitch still offering DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Olympic champion Pawina Thongsuk has nine second-innings in hand heading into the little assistance to the bowlers. England first innings 551-6 declared added another feather to her weightlifting cap. final day of the second Ashes Test. Andrew Strauss posted his best score of the series to Australia first innings (overnight 312-5) On Monday at the Asian Games, the 27-year-old former Hoggard claimed 7-109, the best figures by an remain unbeaten on 31 with Ian Bell not out 18 and a J.Langer c Pietersen b Flintoff 4 physical education student bettered the clean-and-jerk mark Englishman at Adelaide Oval since Jack White took 8-126 draw looming as the most likely result, barring a dra- M.Hayden c Jones b Hoggard 12 set by Russian Svetlana Shimkova by one kilogram. in 1928/29, to help dismiss Australia for 513 and earn his matic batting collapse on the final day. R.Ponting c Jones b Hoggard 142 Thongsuk lifted 142 kg to improve Shimkova’s record of team a 38-run advantage on the first innings. Australia briefly looked as though they might sneak D.Martyn c Bell b Hoggard 11 141 kg set at Wladyslawowo, Poland earlier this year. England extended their lead to 97 by the end of day past England's massive first innings total of 551-6 M.Hussey b Hoggard 91 The Thai weightlifter, who set the snatch and total weight declared when Michael Clarke (124) posted his M.Clarke c Giles b Hoggard 124 world records at the 2005 world championships, withdrew first Test hundred in two years and Adam A.Gilchrist c Bell b Giles 64 from this year’s world titles in the Dominican Republic to pre- Gilchrist (64) made a timely return to form. S.Warne lbw b Hoggard 43 pare for the Asian Games. But England picked up the last four wickets B.Lee not out 7 for just 11 runs, with Hoggard adding three to S.Clark b Hoggard 0 the four he claimed on Sunday, to restrict the G.McGrath c Jones b Anderson 1 Australians to 513 as they attempt to retain the Ashes they won at home last year. Extras (b-4 lb-2 w-1 nb-7) 14 Lee fined Total (all out, 165.3 overs) 513 Hoggard picked up three of the last four wick- Australian fast bowler was fined a quarter Fall: 1-8 2-35 3-65 4-257 5-286 6-384 7-502 8-505 9-507 ets to complete his seventh five- haul in of his match fee for an excessive appeal in the second 10-513 Test and finish with seven after picking Ashes Test against England, Reuters reported yester- Bowling: Hoggard 42-6-109-7, Flintoff 26-5-82-1 (nb-5), up all four Australia wickets that fell on Sunday. day. Gilchrist briefly threatened to go on the ram- Harmison 25-5-96-0 (nb-2 w-1), Anderson 21.3-3-85-1, Giles Lee was cited by match referee Jeff Crowe when page, racing to his half-century off just 70 balls, 42-7-103-1, Pietersen 9-0-32-0 he began celebrating after striking English batsman but threw his wicket away with the total on 384 England second innings Kevin Pietersen on the pads without checking to see when he swept Giles straight to Bell in the deep. A.Strauss not out 31 whether he was out. Clarke, once regarded as the golden boy of A.Cook c Gilchrist b Clark 9 West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor ruled in the Australian cricket after making 151 on debut in I.Bell not out 18 batsman’s favour and Crowe found Lee guilty of exces- India then 141 in his first Test at home against Extras (lb-1) 1 sive appealing for not first checking with the umpire. New Zealand, pressed his claims for a perma- Total (for one wicket, 19 overs) 59 “Brett is confused about this verdict in that he nent recall with a flawless hundred. Fall: 1-31 thought he saw the umpire gesture that it was out,” The 25-year-old was only included in the side Bowling: Lee 5-1-13-0, McGrath 4-1-12-0, Warne 5-1-20-0, Crowe said in a statement. after all-rounder Shane Watson tore his ham- Clark 5-2-13-1 “The simple fact is that Brett did not stop and wait string before the first Test but has enhanced his To bat: P.Collingwood, K.Pietersen, A.Flintoff, G.Jones, for the umpire’s actual decision, out or not out, before prospects of holding his spot after two impres- A.Giles, M.Hoggard, S.Harmison, J.Anderson starting his celebrations, something that has been stip- sive innings.– Reuters. ulated over the past three years.” Cumming in ‘sweet’ comeback for Kiwis Craig Cumming lost his New Zealand and physically and did not have the drive I Cricket contract this year and developed normally had. insulin-dependent diabetes, but the clouds “At the time I just thought it was a tran- have had a silver lining. sitional thing and that I wasn’t aspiring to Cumming, 31, was recalled on Saturday to play for the Black Caps.” the Black Caps for the first Test against Sri Cumming had one of his poorest first- Lanka, starting Thursday in Christchurch. class seasons, despite Otago doing well, Cumming has been chosen to fill the con- averaging just 21.62, and did not manage tentious opening position and will partner a 50. His NZC retainer was not renewed. Jamie How. Facing Sri Lanka’s new ball attack But during the off-season Cumming’s though probably pales into insignificance com- Type A diabetes was diagnosed and once pared with the battles Cumming has fought he began having his twice-daily insulin over the past year. injections he began to feel “normal” again. Cumming believed his brief (five-Test) “I’ve changed my diet, watch what I eat career in 2005 was over when he lost his place and avoid eating sweet things and calories. in Zimbabwe and was not selected again. I’ve lost about 7kg which has been good, a vengeance and several solid knocks (63, 7, things had now changed. Then Cumming’s cricket went into a down- not all through that but also exercise. It took 41 and 50) forced the selectors into reconsid- The arrival of two children, Jacob, three, ward spiral back home for Otago as he strug- me a couple of weeks to get my head around ering him. and Zac, 17 months, plus his health concerns, gled for runs, energy and motivation. things once I was diagnosed but now I look for- Cumming said he had also reassessed his where he has to monitor his blood-sugar levels “Thinking back to the end of last season I ward to each day.” priorities in life over the past year or two and during the day, led to him reassessing his was constantly getting knocked down mentally Cumming has begun the new season with whereas he had been cricket professional future.

Tuesday 5th December, 2006