No Olympic hope for Sri Lanka men’s 4x400m relay quartet
Any possibility of the Sri Lanka 4x400m Men’s relay team qualifying for the Paris Olympics 2024 will be out of question, despite the islanders beating India to win the Asian Relay Championship in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this week.Sri Lanka needed a performance sub 3:00.00secs, in precise 2:59.12secs or an even better timing to even consider their chances of earning an Olympic berth, which was evidently within the grasp but went to India. This was after Sri Lanka failed to make themselves available at the Olympic Qualifiers held in the Bahamas earlier this month, purely due to logistic mishaps.
In Bangkok, Sri Lanka won the gold medal with a timing of 3:04.48secs, after star sprinter Kalinga Kumarage cantered his lap to outsmart the Indian runner in the final lap, under soggy and
slippery conditions.
Aruna Darshana gave the perfect start Sri Lanka was anticipating, but Pasindu Kodikara was challenged dearly by the Indian opponent, forcing the third change, Dinuka Deshan to fall behind to second by the end of the third lap. Giving the Indian runner a strong pressure from the beginning, Kumarage outdid his opponent in the final straight to give his team a clear win. India finished second at 3:05.76secs as Vietnam clocked 3:07.37secs to finish at third ahead of Qatar.
Interestingly, after failing to finish on the first day of the Olympic Qualifiers in the Bahamas on May 4, India went on to compete on the second day and record a season’s best timing of 3:03.23secs in Heat 1 to qualify alongside USA.
After the first day Botswana, South Africa, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Italy, Nigeria and Great Britain managed to claim their Olympic slots after completing among the top two in the four heats held. This left the remaining 23 countries, barring Sri Lanka who failed to make it due to logistic and visa issues, the opportunity to test their chances on second day on May 5.
Among the countries directly qualified from the three heats are USA, who were disqualified the previous day, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Spain, Poland and India. This completed the 14 slots out of a total 16, as France and Zambia filled in the remaining two slots on merit after the two-legged Olympic Qualifiers.
Given the fact that Sri Lanka had beaten India in the recent couple of outings – one in Sri Lanka few months back, followed by last Tuesday’s stunner in Bangkok, the island nation had an ideal opportunity to qualify for the grandest sporting event on earth. But what ailed them were the delay in processing the required visas to enter the USA, which was strict as well as confusing.
According to a top official of
Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA), the final entry date for the event in Bahamas was March 21, to which they had duly obliged. After receiving the official invitation on April 2, for the two-day event of May 4 and 5, the SLA officials have applied for visas during the same day. But the local embassy for USA had given May 29 as the day for interviews for the four runners and two officials accompanying.
After the intervention of the Sports Ministry and Foreign Ministry, the US embassy had asked them to make fresh applications, only to be advise the reprocess of the applications for more than once, which led the SLA officials to make a crucial decision with several deadlines approaching.
The Sports Ministry, who had furnished the six air tickets to the six-member contingent, were on the hoop in releasing the funds as it already knew the athletic contingent was already going through issues with regard to the visa. On the other hand the SLA had to notify the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) at least two days prior to the deadline, which was fast approaching, if they are confirming or withdrawing. If Sri Lanka did not appear without a reason, SLA would be obliged to a fine of US$5000.
“By this time we had worked with all our contacts, local and international, even writing officially to IAAF to assist with our visa process. But the IAAF stated they could not intervene with the visas, and we had to officially, but desolately, state our withdrawal from the Olympic Qualifiers,” stated the official.
However, after giving up all hopes and minding their business back on the tracks, the SLA were suddenly called upon by the US Embassy to send the travelling contingent for visa interviews, days prior to the event. This was after SLA had duly informed the IAAF of their unavailability, and the Sports Ministry, who were doling out the financial grant for air tickets.
This was the very same time when suddenly Sri Lanka’s ace 400m runner, Kalinga Kumarage suffered an injury, while other members of the contingent had presented themselves at the visa interviews, after SLA officials reactivated the halted process with IAAF and Sports Ministry. But Kumarage’s injury was a crucial factor, as the entire contingent finally decided to stay back and look for other avenues to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Fifteen days later after India qualified,
Sri Lanka managed to beat them promptly in Bangkok, but this affair can be considered as dead rubber with the 16 slots already being filled soon after the Bahamas event.
Now Sri Lanka will have to pin their hopes on sprinter Yupun Abeykoon, who have already made a few attempts, but failed to reach the required qualifying standards, 400m runners Kalinga Kumarage, Aruna Darshana, and thrower Dilhani Lekamge, who have been active at regional meets held in the recent few days and weeks. The fate of female sprinter Tharushi Karunaratne, is yet to be determined as she had to pull out from the recent events held in Japan, as well as Bangkok last week, citing injury concerns.