Tintu, Nimali and Gayanthika to battle for 800m honours

A Sri Lanka team comprising of 11 athletes left yesterday for the Asian Grand Prix series in China to compete in the first leg tomorrow at Jianhua, China.
Athletics Association (AASL) initially selected a team of 12, but High Jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekara could not make the trip as he was suffering from Dengue fever and was hospitalized a few days before the tour. The events will start at 4 p.m. SL time on Monday and will go until 7.30 p.m.

There will be some interesting contests in the three leg competition specially ahead of preparations for the Asian Championship where India too has sent some of their top athletes with sprinter Dutee Chand, 800m Asian Champion Tintu Luka and 800m specialist Jihnson Johnson in the team.

Dutee Chand who had run 11.24 seconds early this year on a grass track will be one to watch during the women’s 100m which features Sri Lanka’s pearl of Kegalle, Rumeshika Rathnayake, who beat Chand to win the South Asian 100m Gold Medal last year. But following that Chand improved to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games as Indian Authorities backed her with training and competitions while Rumeshika was largely neglected by SL authorities. Nevertheless she came back to the track to run a sub 12 seconds 100m winning both 100m and 200m during the National trials early this month and will be looking to compete against top Asian athletes. However, the fastest runners in the race are two Kazakhstan athletes Safronova Olga and Zyabkina Viktoriya who have both run under 11.20 seconds earlier.

In the Men’s 100m Sri Lanka’s Himasha Eashan will be up against Iranian Ghasemi Reza who is the favourite to win the event. Reza the bronze medallist at the last Asian Championship had run 10.04 seconds early this year and Eashan clocked 10.29 seconds in Jamaica coming back from injury. Race will also feature Maldives sprinter Saaid Hassan who is also training in Jamaica along with Eashan even though only Eashan and Reza had previously run below 10.30 seconds out of the others in the race.
The much looked forward to battle will be the women’s 800m where Asian Championship Gold medallist Tintu Luka will be challenged by two of Sri Lanka’s most improved middle distance runners, Nimali Liyanarachchi and Gayanthika Abeyrathne.
The last time these three battled it out was at the Asian Championship in 2015 where Tintu secured the Gold Medal while Nimali finished third for the Bronze Medal. But Nimali and Gayanthika have improved so much; since then Gayanthika beat Nimali at the last National trials clocking 02:02.55 seconds which was a new Sri Lanka record, while Nimali too clocked a personal best of 02:02.58 seconds. Nevertheless fastest runner in the event is Chinese Wang ChunYu who has previously run below the two minute mark.

In the Men’s 400m there won’t be any athlete who has run below 46 seconds as India’s Mohammad Anus hasn’t gone to China and Sri Lanka’s Ajith Premakumara may have an outside chance for a medal.
In the Men’s Javelin Throw, Sri Lanka will feature two athletes Waruna Lakshan and Sumedha Ranasinghe, both of whom have achieved more than 80m, but the favourite for the title will be the young Indian thrower Neeraj Chopra who won the gold medal at the World Junior Championship last year.

Men: Himasha Eashan (100), Ajith Premakumara (400 M), Indunil Herath (800 M), Sanjaya Jayasinghe (Triple Jump), Sumedha Ranasinghe (Javelin), Waruna Lakshan Dayaratne (Javelin)
Women: Rumeshika Rathnayaka (100 M), Nimali Liyanarachchi (400M & 800 M), Gayanthika Abeyratne (800 M), Tharanga Vinodani, (High Jump), Tharika Fernando (Shot Put)
Officials: Badra Gunawardana (Manager), Pradeep Nishantha (Coach).

Schedule of Sri Lankan Athletes
(in SL time)

16.10 Women’s Shot Put Final (Tharika Fernando)
16.15 Men’s Javelin Throw Final (Sumedha Ranasinghe, Waruna Lakshan)
16.45 Women’s 100m Heat 1 (Rumeshika Rathnayaka)
17.00 Women’s 100m Heat 2
17.15 Men’s 100m Heat 1(Himasha Eashan)
17.30 Men’s 100m Heat 2
17.45 Men’s Triple Jump Final (Sanjaya Jayasinghe)
17.45 Women’s 800m Final (Nimali Liyanarachchi, Gayanthika Abeyratne)
18.00 Men’s 800m Final (Indunil Herath)
18.00 Women’s High Jump Final (Tharanga Vinodani)
18.20 Women’s 400mFinal (Nimali Liyanarachchi)
18.35 Men’s 400m Final (Ajith Premakumara)