Manoji – a new Lankan record
The first day’s proceedings of the selection trials conducted by the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa Stadium saw one new Sri Lanka record being established which was in the women’s category with Manoji Amarasinghe of Army hurling the hammer to a new record of 47.31m to better the existing record of 40.25m set by G.L.A. Galhena in 2011.
Manoji Amarasinghe in action - Pic by Ranjith Perera
Sri Lankas ace women’s javelin thrower Nadeeka Lakmal also of the Army did a 57.97m to come out on top in this event. Nadeeka who will be representing Sri Lanka at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games will leave for Finland with her coach A.J. Rodrigo on Tuesday to undergo training in preparation for the two crucial meets.
Australian based Sonali Merril representing the Lanka Lions won the women’s 100m hurdle event with a personal best timing of 13.81secs. In fact it was the first time since Sriyani Kulawansa that a Sri Lanka woman has done a timing of under 14 secs.
Later in the day Sonali returned to the track to run in her pet event of 400m hurdle and ended with a timing of under 59secs to qualify for the finals which is scheduled to be held today evening.
Meanwhile Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri also of the Army had the honour of ending with the best performance of the day when he leaped 7.71m in the men’s long jump to gain 1069 IAAF points.
The two day trials conducted by the AASL is being held to select athletes for the Commonwealth Games due to be held in Glasgow, Scotland and the Asian Games in South Korea.
Twenty finals are scheduled to be worked off today with 13 in the track and seven in the field events.