Four records tumble, one equalled on day 3
The proceedings of the 30th All Island Schools Athletics 2014 which is now in progress at the Sugathadasa Stadium saw four more records being eclipsed and one equalled on day three.
In the three days of competition so farten new records have been broken and one equalled. The opening day saw two new records being broken with four on the second day.
The four new records to be established comprised of three in the track events and one in the field. The record that was equalled too came in the track event with all being achieved by athletes from the outstations such as Meerigama, Mahiyangana, Jaffna, Ratnapura and Ampara.
Two records were eclipsed in the morning session with the first being the under 17 boys triple jump event where Chamal Kumarasinghe of D.S. Senanayake National School Meerigama lept to a new record of 14.81m to erase the record of 14.48m set by Sanath Udayanga of Medankara MV Boosa last year.The second record was in the girls’ under 21 pole vault event where another girl from the northern district (Jaffna) A. Pavithra of Arunodhya College, Walikamam following the feat of Aniththa Jegatheeswaran of Mahajana College Jaffna equalled the Sri Lanka record on day one in the same event.
Pavithra set a new record of 3.17m to better the record of her schoolmate A. Thanuja 3.11m which was set in 2012. The second record in the track event came in the under 16 girls’ 400m semi final with Sandamali Pushpalatha of Madaoya Kanishta Vidyalaya sprinting to a new record of 59.03secs eclipsing the existing record of 59.35sec set by Induraga Sathsarani of Vijitha MMV Dickwella last year.
The girls’ from Sumana Balika Vidyalaya Ratnapura established a new record in the 4x100m relay with a new timing of 50.42secs shattering the record that stood since 2003 also to the name of the same school. The under 15 boys 400m record of 51.86sec which stood to the name of Supun Nimsana of Gurukula MV Kelaniya was equalled by E.N. Avichithya of Warankatagoda MV Ampara.
The 30th All Island School Games Athletics competition conducted by the Ministry of Education is the last of the sports event to be held which will draw to a close on October 7. – MSA