Sri Lanka to make Beach Athletics debut at Asian Beach Games 2020
Sri Lankan track and field athletes will make their debut at the Sanya 2020 6th Asian Beach Games to be held in China from 26 November to 5 December.
Even though beach athletics had been included in the Asian Beach Games in 2014 as well as 2016 edition, the Athletics Association (AASL) said that this is the first time they have been asked to send an athletic team by the country’s sports authorities. Sri Lanka – who competed in other sports in the previous five editions – has only won 6 Bronze medals and is ranked 37 out of 42 participating Nations, with Thailand topping the tally with 130 Gold medals across five editions.
When inquiries were made from AASL President Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando regarding this, he said that AASL is keen to send a team, but reluctant to send any top athletes or top relay team members due to injury concerns, as they are mainly targeting Olympic qualification standards and medals at other major championships next year.
Even though it’s called ‘beach athletics’, it’s very much different to just running in the sand. Jumping run ups and 60m tracks were prepared with pressed sand during the last two editions, where top Asian athletes competed wearing spikes without much of a problem and returned impressive times.
Ceylon Today inquired from an official who was present at the 2016 edition of the Asian Beach Games about the conditions, and he said conditions of those run-ups were much similar to some of the grass venues where our athletes train.
“If you take run-ups of Kotawila Stadium Matara, Polonnaruwa or Badulla, where the last three National Sports Festivals were held, run-ups of those grounds during the meet were much worse than the Asian Beach Games run- ups; hence, our athletes will do much better there as they have been training on similar tracks for years now,” said the official subject to anonymity.
We acquired videos of the 2016 edition of the Asian Beach Games held in Danang, Vietnam, and on a comparison with local tracks noticed conditions were much better. The 60m Gold medalist clocked an impressive 6.44 seconds, long jump Gold medalist leapt 7.53m, while the triple jump Gold medalist leapt 16.63m.
A total of 14 Gold medals will be on offer for male and female athletes in the following events:
Events at 2016 Asian Beach Games
- 60m
- 4x60m relay
- Long jump
- Triple jump
- Shot Put
- Cross country
- Cross country team event
2016 Results
MEN
WOMEN
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 M | LÊ TÚ CHINH VIETNAM |
7.60 | KHANRUTAI PAKDEE THAILAND |
7.73 | LÊ THỊ MỘNG TUYỀN VIETNAM |
7.74 |
| 4 × 60 M RELAY |  THAILANDPARICHAT CHAROENSUK KHANRUTAI PAKDEE PHENSRI CHAIROEK SUPAWAN THIPAT |
28.62 |  VIETNAMLÊ THỊ MỘNG TUYỀN LÊ TÚ CHINH ĐỖ THỊ QUYÊN NGUYỄN THỊ OANH |
29.16 |  CHINAHUANG GUIFEN WANG XUAN WANG RONG LIN HUIJUN |
29.87 |
| CROSS-COUNTRY | PHẠM THỊ HUỆ VIETNAM |
13.56.29 | NGUYỄN THỊ OANH VIETNAM |
14.02.01 | LU MENGYAO CHINA |
14:54.93 |
| CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM | VIETNAM HOÀNG THỊ THANH LÒ THỊ THANH NGUYỄN THỊ OANH PHẠM THỊ HUỆ VŨ THỊ LY |
6 | THAILAND TANAPHON ASSAWAWONGCHAROEN WORAPHAN NUANLSRI SUNEEKA PRICHAPRONG NATTHAYA THANARONNAWAT KAMONPORN YAEMSEE |
25 | NONE AWARDED | |
| LONG JUMP | BÙI THỊ THU THẢO VIETNAM |
6.32 | NGUYỄN THỊ TRÚC MAI VIETNAM |
6.11 | MARESTELLA SUNANG PHILIPPINES |
6.10 |
| TRIPLE JUMP | VŨ THỊ MẾN VIETNAM |
13.11 | TRẦN HUỆ HOA VIETNAM |
13.06 | PARINYA CHUAIMAROENG THAILAND |
12.66 |
| SHOT PUT | LIU XIANGRONG CHINA |
16.06 | SUN YUE CHINA |
14.50 | AREERAT INTADIS THAILAND |
|
