AASL plot Asian & Commonwealth Games success
- Nationals begin on 31 August
- Sponsored by MSA Shamsudeen Developments
Sri Lanka athletes will get another opportunity to be included in the National athletics pool, which now comprises of 36 athletes, when the National Athletics Championship 2017 gets under way at Diyagama from 31 August to 2 September.
The main focus of the pool will be to achieve success at the Commonwealth and Asian Games 2018, and will comprise of 25 male and 11 female athletes, who will be selected taking into consideration their Asian and Commonwealth rankings at present.
Out of the 36, only six athletes are within the top ten of Asian Rankings, while the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams too are within the top Ten Asian Rankings.
Currently, triple jumper Vidusha Lakshani is ranked 5th in Asia while 9th in the Commonwealth countries, while Javelin Thrower Dilhani Lekamge is ranked 7th in both Asia and Commonwealth. Sprinter Rumeshika Rathnayake is ranked 7th in Asia, while Javelin Thrower Waruna Lakshan is ranked 6th in Asia and 9th in Commonwealth. Men’s 4x400m relay team is ranked 2nd in Asia and 9th in Commonwealth, while 4x100m relay team is ranked 8th in Asia and 12th in Commonwealth. The 800m duo of Nimali Liyanarachchi and Gayanthika Abeyrathne are ranked 2nd and 3rd in Asia.
“We have pools in place and deserving athletes will be sent for training programmes overseas, especially those who are within the top ten of Asian Rankings,” said President of the Athletics Association (AASL) Major Gen. Palitha Fernando.
As an initiative Rumeshika Rathnayake and Nimali Liyanarachchi will be sent to Japan for a programme at the Rushida University of Japan later this year.
“Nimali is competing with an injury. We have informed the said University to look for a solution to the injury,” said Fernando.
Athletes at the National pools are been paid a monthly incentive at the moment and Fernando said monthly incentives of Asian Championship medal winning athletes will be drastically increased by the ministry as none of them received cash prizes for their medals unlike previous years.
Meanwhile, following the positive doping Test of 400m runner Pradeep Ruwan, doping control at Nationals will be toughened, where Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA) has been asked to conduct random and pre-competition season testing.
AASL expects all national athletes to compete in the National Championship. They will take tough action against those who do not compete without medical exception from the Sports Medicine Unit, and they could be removed from the National Pool.
Asian Championship silver medalist javelin thrower Dilhani Lekamge will not be competing at the Nationals as she will be competing in the Mok Po International throwing meet in Korea.
It has also got to be highlighted that Sri Lanka still lacks a proper synthetic track. Fernando said the Minister had promised to provide a track and all other facilities will soon be in order for athletes to focus on training. MSA Shamsudeen who is the owner of many companies such as MSA Shamsudeen Developments, Reality (Pvt) Ltd and MSA Shamsudeen Development (Pvt) Ltd. is sponsoring the event.
