Sri Lanka's Kalinga Kumarage through to finals, 3rd in Men's 400m

Sri Lanka's Kalinga Kumarage raised his country's medal hopes when he came third in the Men's 400 meters competing in Round 1 of Heat 2 with a timing of 45.74 to qualify for the finals on the 10th day of the 20th Achi Nagoya Asian Games in Japan on Friday.

Kumarage's overall rank was 8th.

For the record the men's 400m and 4x400 relay events have historically being one of Sri Lanka's strong medal winning areas being ranked among Asia's top four, and Kalinga's effort on Friday did bring his country close to a second Asian Games medal following the silver medal delivered by the Sri Lankan Women's cricketers.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Kalhara Idupa, came fifth competing in the men's 400 meters Round 1 Heat 3 with a timing of 46.53 for an overall rank of 15th place.

Elsewhere, in the preliminaries, Sri Lanka's hopes were kept alive by victories by surfer Nuchitha Irundika and shuttler Duminda Abeywickrama in their respective men's events.

Competing in the Surfing Shortboard Round 1 Heat 7 Nuchitha was ranked 2nd place with a 8.93 result.

At the badminton Men's Singles 1st Round Match 25, Duminda Abeywickrama won over Nepal's Praful Maharjun 2-0, (21-6, 21-8).

However, previous winners paddler Bimandee Bandara and boxer Ravindu Jayanath fell short of continuing their winning streaks.

Bimandee lost to Joo Cheonhui of the Republic of Korea 4-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-2, 11-4) in the Women's Round 2 Match 13 while Jayanath lost to Emad Hamdam of Afghanistan 4-1 in the 60kg Men's Preliminaries Round of 16 Bout 80.

By Srian Obeyesekere