Nationals to provide eye catching thrillers
The 97th National Athletics Championship, the pinnacle event of local athletics, is set to provide a thrilling programme of high-stakes competition and high-octane performances at the Sugathadasa Stadium Colombo from 16 to 18 August due to the new South Asian Games ruling that limits participation to one athlete per nation per event.
The National Championship will be final selection trial for the South Asian Games 2019 to be held in Nepal from 1 to 10 December, where prime target of all SL athletes will be getting into the team: with even US-based distance runner Hiruni Wijayarathne coming down for her maiden track competition in the island, in the 5000m and 10000m events.
The Athletics Association (AASL) has stated that there won’t be any alternation to the team selected from the NAC trials except if caused by injury or health issues. The 3-day championship has attracted just 486 entries from men and 147 from women, and AASL reckons the SAG rule of limiting a country’s contestants to one entry per event is the main reason for the low number of entries: with only the cream of athletes participating.
Hence the championship will feature the top junior and senior athletes, including likes of Parami Wasanthi and Shelinda Jansen, while defending SAG champions Rumeshika Rathnayaka and Indunil Herath are expected to make a strong return after quite few months away from local athletics.
The Men’s 400m is set to be one of the slowest in the NAC during recent years as many top quarter milers are missing from it. Sub-46 second runner Kalinga Kumarage will not feature in the race as he is serving a doping ban, while Pasindu Kodikara will miss out due to A/L exams. Asian Championship participant Ajith Premakumara wasn’t training due to personal reasons, whilst Dilip Ruwan who started training earlier this year is not at his best. Asian Junior Gold medalist Aruna Darshana is just coming off an injury and has not run under 47 seconds so far this year.
Since it’s the Advance Level exam month, several top rung junior athletes are bound to miss the competition; but some such as Junior South Asian Championship Gold medal-winning sprinter Safiya Yamic are set to take the hard road of balancing the A/Ls as well as competition at the same time. Yamic who sits for her exam in Kandy is set to run the 100m heats on the 16thmorning at 08:00 and be back at Kandy to tackle the Political Science exam paper at 14:00, returning to Colombo to compete in the 100m finals the next day (if she makes the cut).
Manjula Kumara missing
Defending South Asian Games Gold medalist and Sri Lanka High Jump record holder Manjula Kumara Wijesekara will not feature in this year’s National Championship for the first time since 2009. The 35-year old former Olympian, who is now training in Australia, said he had been aiming to call it a day following the SAG, but now finds himself in a quandary with the AASL announcement that the Nationals will be the final selection trails, since he is unable to attend the meet. Nevertheless, he is hoping the AASL will accede to his request for a separate trial at a later date.
AASL stated that they are focusing on five athletes to achieve the qualifying standards for the World Championship or come close to it. The five on whom Sri Lanka is pinning its hopes are Himasha Eashan (100m), Sumedha Ranasinghe (Javelin Throw), Nilani Rathnayaka (Women’s 3000m St. Chase), Janaka Prasad Wimalasiri (Long Jump) and Greshan Dhananjaya (Triple Jump), and all five will have to break national records to achieve the World Championship target.
Grant from AAC
The Asian Athletics Association (AAC) has come forward to sponsor the NAC with USD 5000 to cover the expenses, and AASL states that their close ties with AAA president General Dahlan Jumaan al-Hamad has prompted the grant.
Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has invited AASL to dispatch a 10-member team to their national championship, which will provide much needed exposure for our athletes to compete against top Indian rivals. AASL is considering the invitation positively and will take a decision regarding team members following the nationals.
Month-long training to acclimatize
AASL also stated that they are in discussion with India as well as Bhutan to provide a month-long training facility to SL’s national team ahead of the South Asian Games to enable them to acclimatize to the high-altitude conditions in Nepal. The Sri Lanka Army, too, will make a similar request to Nepal’s defense ministry through Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defense: since 90% of the team is expected to comprise athletes from the military.
