Heartbreak for Nadeesha in 400M || Ajith , Rusiru out from Semis

Quarter miler Nadeesha Ramanayaka’s 400 dreams ended in heartbreak during the 23rd Asian Athletics Championship as she finished in 6th in the finals at Khalifa Stadium, Doha, Qatar. Nadeesha coming from 53.03 seconds in Sri Lanka finished first in the heat with a time of 53.66 seconds in the morning. And with India’s World Junior sprinter Hima Das failing to finish the heat, Nadeesha’s hope for medal increased.Yet she did not feel well after the heat with muscle tightness but unfortunately team official was not really there to support her just after the race.

Plus the physiotherapist who was included in the team isn’t someone who had experience with track and field athletes and has not really worked with these athletes before which did not help the team much. To top that there was not even a day for recovery between 400m heat and final where Nadeeshan ended up clocking 53.98 seconds and finishing 6th while the silver medal of the race was won by Kazakhstan’s  Mikhina Elina for a time of  53.19 seconds.

Bahrain’s Asian record holder Salwa eid Naser clocked 51.34 seconds to win the gold while India’s Poovamma Raju won the bronze medal with a time of 53.21 seconds.Triple Jumper Greshan Dahananjaya qualified into the finals with a leap of 15.87m during the qualification round. Both 800M runner Rusiru Chathuranga’s and 400M Ajith Premakumara’s competition ended in semifinals as Rusiru finished 4th with a time of 1:51.02 seconds while Ajith finished 4th with 47.07 seconds. Two new meet records were set within the day as Ernest John of Philippines Cleared 5.71m to win the gold medal of Pole Vault men’s finals. In Discuss thrower Iranian Ehsan Hadadi threw 65.95 m which was new Championship record.