Athletics: Promising Amasha looks to run to cloud nine

It may be surprising that Amasha de Silva, the girl who won four gold medals at the recent South Asian Junior Athletic Championships, initially dabbled in Hockey and Volleyball. 

The slim, petite lass from Swarnamali Girls College, Kandy was also into Athletics, but her event was the 400 metres hurdles. 

In the period 2012-18, she participated in the National Schools Games and the John Tarbat meets where she finished third and second. 

No wins as yet. 

The victories started to come after she was disqualified for a false start at the 2017 Junior Nationals. 

Her coach Sanjeeva Weerakkodi then decided that hence-forth it will be only the 100 and 200metre sprints. 

Her break-through came at the John Tarbat senior meet where she won the 100metres and was placed second in the 200metre event. 

Incidentally, Safia Jameel of Gateway College, who was to be one of her team-mates at the South Asian Championships, finished in third position. 

Her run of success continued at the schools nationals where she triumphed in both the 100 and 200metre events. 

The fact that she out-sprinted Ambagamuwa MV's celebrated Yamani Dulanjali to win the 200 metres was particularly pleasing. 

Stepping up, she participated in the National Athletic trials and came in fourth in the shorter sprint at the second trial. 

She improved to third in this event at the National Championship. 

The crowning glory came at the South Asian Junior Championships when she won gold in the two sprint events, and also helped annex gold medals in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. 

She achieved timings of 11.92secs and 24.7secs in winning the individual golds. 

In the relays, she did the last lap in the shorter event, and the third lap in the longer one. 

The Sri Lanka quarter achieved South Asian records in the two relays. 

Amasha's personal best in the 200 metres is 24.49 seconds which she achieved at the Junior Nationals. 

By achieving this timing, she has qualified to run in the Asian Junior Championships to be held in Japan early next month. 

She will be participating in the sprints and the shorter relay in Japan. 

She is quite exited about the prospect of going to the land of the Cherry Blossoms. 

When asked on what made him pick Amasha for his group of trainees, coach Sanjeeva Weerakkodi comments that he was impressed with her rhythm. 

He also predicts that his protégé is capable of running the 100 metres in 11.04 seconds. 

Fortunately, her coach, too, has been picked to travel to Japan as one of the coaches for the Sri Lankan squad. 

An Advanced Level student, studying Arts Subjects (Geography, Media and Sinhala) at Swarnamali, Amasha does not intend stopping Athletics Just yet. 

There are no airs and false graces about this champion sprinter. This makes her success all the more pleasing.