Artillery guns ahead as 7 records tumble
SLA’s Artillery Regiment, firing on all cylinders, finished the day with a significant lead on points and medals as seven meet records tumbled on the first day of the Army Athletics Championship 2019 which commenced at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Monday (26th) .
A total of 23 out of 32 national athletic champions are employed in the Army; hence it was nothing short of another National Championship where 22 out of the 23 competed in the meet with only Nadeesha Ramanayaka – the Asian Championship 400m finalist – not competing following a nasty mishap during a gym session a few days ago when a weight plate dropped on her feet.
Vinoj Suranjaya de Silva, the 200m national champion and Sri Lanka record holder was deemed ineligible to compete further than in the 200m heats as he has not completed the required minimum period of service upon rejoining the Army to qualify for participation.
Following their win in the Relay Carnival on the 21st, the Artillery Regiment made a clean sweep in the 200m with Himasha Eashan winning the gold medal, beating his teammates Aruna Darshana and Mohommad Safan who won the silver and bronze.
RMS Pushpakumara and K. Shanmugesaren bagged gold and silver in the 5000m to further increase their lead over their closest rivals, the Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Regiment (SLEME) who won their only gold medal in the long jump event where Greshan Dhananjaya beat the national champion, Amila Jayasiri with a new meet record of 7.96m; while Jayasiri too bettered the previous record with a 7.94m leap.
In the women’s events, Sri Lanka heptathlon record holder Lakshika Sugandhi excelled in the 200m sprint: setting a new meet record of 24.49 seconds to win the event hot on the heels of her triple gold medal haul in the 100m, 100m hurdles and heptathlon events during last week’s national championship. Sugandhi shattered the meet record of 24.6 set by Shivanthi Jayathilaka in 2016 by clocking 24.51 seconds in the heats before bettering that timing further in the final.
Sachini Perera was the lone competitor in the women’s pole vault event, but even with the lack of competition the determined athlete bettered both the meet record as well as the Army record, clearing 3.42m.
Following heartbreak in the nationals when her pet event, the 3000m steeplechase was removed from the South Asian Games, Nilani Rathnayaka was determined to qualify for this event at the upcoming World Championship, where she had to clock a time of at least 9 minutes 46 seconds.
She started strongly in the last event of the day, but right from the start she had no competition to drive her forward – in effect, running against herself – and she finished with a time of 10 minutes 01.3 seconds: 11 seconds behind her gold medal timing in the nationals and 14 seconds behind her Sri Lanka record. But that time was still enough to shatter the meet record of 10:13.12 set by her in 2017.
Kaushalya Madushani who excelled in the nationals going under 59 seconds for the first time in the 400m hurdles did not have much competition here, with only three others competing in the final, but she still clocked an impressive 59.30 seconds to shatter the 59.68 seconds record set by her last year.
Distance runner M.N. Nandasena, who hails from the Eastern Province, clocked 36 minutes 43.9 seconds in the 10000m event to shatter the meet record of 37:35.2 set by K.K. Kumari in 2017.
Adikari does a Karunananda
Female 10000m runner D.P. Adikari of the 5th Army Women’s Corp brought memories of legendary athlete Ranathunga Karunananda alive as she ran four rounds alone in the midst of loud cheers from the spectators to finish the 10000m. She took 12 more minutes than to reach the finish line than the 8th placed athlete before her, but stuck to her task with iron determination with the crowd behind her all the way throughout her lone effort: bringing to both the spectators’ and the athletes’ minds Karunananda’s inspiring example of grit in the 1964 Olympic Games.
| Regiment | Place | Points |
| SLA | 1 | 145 |
| SLEME | 2 | 79 |
| SLLI | 3 | 60 |
| GW | 4 | 58 |
| SLASC | 5 | 30 |
| SLSR | 6 | 11 |
| SLE | 7 | 10 |
| SLAC | 8 | 5 |
| VIR | 9 | 4 |
| SLNG | 9 | 4 |
| Unit | Place | Points |
| 5(V)SLAWC | 1 | 105 |
| SLSC(W) | 2 | 85 |
| 4(V)SLAWC | 3 | 69 |
| 2(V)SLAWC | 4 | 57 |
| 7SLAWC | 5 | 22 |
| 3(V)SLAWC | 6 | 21 |
| 1SLAWC | 7 | 17 |
| SLAGSC(W) | 8 | 14 |
| New Army Athletics Record: 01 | |||||||
| Pole Vault | Women | 3.42 | M | S/2085509 | Rec | Perera KLSK | SLSC(W) |
| New Meet Records : 05 | ||||||||
| Long Jump | Men | 7.96 | M | S/ 89677 | Cfm | Dananjaya LG | SLEME | |
| Men | 7.94 | M | S/98809 | Rec | Jayasiri WPA | SLLI | * BPR | |
| 200M | Women | 24.49 | Sec | S/R100065 | L/Cpl | Sugandi BL | 2(V)SLAWC | |
| 400M Hurdles | Women | 59.30 | Sec | S/2014VFRD86398 | Rec | Madushani EK | 5(V)SLAWC | |
| 10000M | Women | 36:43.9 | Min | S/R101347 | Pte | Nandasena HMN | 4(V)SLAWC | |
| Pole Vault | Women | 3.42 | M | S/2085509 | Rec | Perera KLSK | SLSC(W) | |
| 3000m st.ch | women | 10L013 | sec | S/725333 | Cpl | Rathnayaka UKN | 7SLAWC | |
Results
Men
5000M: 1. RMS Pushpakumara (SLA) 14:34.45 sec, 2. K.Shanmugesaren (SLA) 14:39.55sec, 3. MV Kumara (SLAC ) 14:40.81 sec
Hammer Throw: 1. Sisisra Kumara (GW) 50.70m, 2. AS Bandara (SLA) 49.47m, 3. SR Kumarasiri (SLASC) 46.82m
Long Jump: 1. Greshan Dhananjaya (SLEME) 7.96m, 2. Amila Jayasiri (SLLI) 7.94m, 3. K . Karunasekara (SLLI) 7.72m
200M: 1. Himasha Eashan (SLA) 21.43 sec, 2. Aruna Darshana (SLA) 21.46 sec, 3. Mohamed Safan 21.48 sec
Women
Long Jump: 1. Vidusha Lakshani (5(V)SLAC) 6.4m, 2. SS Wijewardana (SLSC(W) 5.64m, 3. NU Anasinghe (2(V) SLAWC) 40:23.3 sec
400M Hurdles: 1. Kaushalya Madushan (5(V) SLAWC) 59.25 sec, 2. MD Wickramasinghe (4(V)SLAWC) 1:01.63 sec, 3. SK Abeyrathne SLSC (W) 1:07.78 sec
High Jump: 1. RS Cooray (5(V) SLAWC) 1.60m, 2. KG Nethmini (5(V) SLAWC)1.50m, 3. SD Herath (4(V) SLAWC) 1:50m
Pole Vault: 1. Sachini Perera (SLSC(W) 3.42m
Discus Throw: 1. M.Dilrukshi (1SLAWC) 36.59 m 2. EP Nilmini (4(V)SLAWC) 32.99m , 3. UK Senarathne (7SLAWC) 23.95m
10000M: 1. MN Nandasena (4(V)SLAWC) 36:43.9 sec, 2. SN Bandara (2(V)SLAWC) 39:27.1 sec. 3. WM Herath (7SLAWC) 40:22.33 sec
200M: 1. Lakshika Sugandhi (2(V)SLAWC) 24.49 sec, 2. Upamali Rathnakumari (5(V)SLAWC) 25.00 sec, 3. Kaushalya Madushani 25.08 sec
3000M Steeple Chase: 1. Nilani Rathnayaka(7SLAWC) 10:01.3 sec, 2. Udaya Kumara 12:03.7 sec, 3. WC Damayanthi (2(V)SLAWC) 13.12.9 sec
