Sri Lankan Athletes continue to struggle
Shehan Ambepitiya (centre) in action during the Men’s 4X100m relay
Sri Lankan athletes continued with their struggle for a medal without any success on the third day of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship which continued at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India yesterday.
Sri Lanka took part in four finals including in the Men’s 4X100 metres relay but none of them were able to produce any medal winning performances for the country.
In fact tragedy struck in the very first final of the day as Nimali Rathnayake pulled out from the Women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase event after having completed only six rounds.
The biggest disappointment for Sri Lanka was the complete failure of Team Captain and former Asian Gold Medallist Manjula Wijesekera who was pushed into the sixth place in the Men’s high jump event with a pretty ordinary effort of 2.20 metres.
In addition, Sri Lanka’s 4X100 metres relay team comprising of Himasha Eshan, Shehan Ambepitiya, Vinod Suranjaya Silva and Mohamed Safran had to be content with fourth place with a time of 39.59 seconds.
Meanwhile, Vidusha Lakshani also had to be satisfied with fourth place in the Women’s triple jump final with a performance of 13.33 metres.
However, Vinod Suranjaya Silva kept Sri Lanka’s hopes alive by qualifying for the semi-finals of the Men’s 200 metres after clocking 21.20 seconds in the first-round heats.
In addition, two Women’s 800m runners Nimali Liyanarachchi and Gayanthika Abeyratne along with Indunil Herath (Men’s 800m) also qualified to compete in the finals of their respective events. Meanwhile It was at the backdrop of some uncertainty that she took the field to participate in her pet event against some of the top contenders in the Asian region.