First athletic selection trial for Olympics set in April
With the success of the 13th SAG, AASL is aiming high in 2020
The Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) will conduct the first Selection Trial for the 2020 Olympics on April 8 and 9 at the Sugathadasa Stadium. The summer Olympics will be held from July 31 to August 9 in Tokyo, Japan.
As of now no Sri Lankan athlete has achieve direct qualification for the Games.
The second and final selection trial will be held from June 2 to 4 which will be run parallel to the 98th National Athletic Championships. It will be worked in Diyagama or Sugathadasa Stadium.
AASL president Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando said they have selected eight events with the hope of achieving the qualifying standard for the Olympics. They are 4 x 100m relay (men), 4 x 400 mixed relay, 400m (men), 800m (men and women), long jump (men and women), triple jump (men and women), 3,000m Steeplechase (women) and marathon (women).
South Asian Games marathon champion Hiruni Wijayaratne is one of the favourites to qualify for the Olympics.
The cut-off date to qualifying for the Games is June 29.
The current national pool of 64 which was formed ahead of SAG will continue training, said Fernando.