SL Athletics team finally leaves for India

The 10-member Sri Lanka Athletics team finally left to India yesterday after a chaotic day, to compete at the 66th National Interstate Athletics Championship to be held from 25 to 29 June in Patiala upon an invitation extended by Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

As Ceylon Today reported yesterday, the team had to undergo a logistic nightmare yesterday, which were all sorted out at the eleventh hour. This included Sports Ministry getting clearance from COVID-19 Taskforce, Civil Aviation and Foreign Ministry for the tour, and then arranging air tickets while making sure all touring athletes returned a negative PCR report prior to departure.

Since there are no direct flights to India presently, the team had to travel via Doha, Delhi and then Chandigar where the total journey took almost 24 hours with long transit times in between.

The team was set to leave on Tuesday, but were left stranded with no tickets and had to return to the sports hostel. Earlier, a visa issue resulted in cancelation of the Kazakhstan tour, depriving five athletes who were on the verge of Olympic qualification from participating in the World Athletics Bronze level competition, including US based high Jumper Ushan Thiwanka. The team to India includes all four athletes who missed out from touring Kazakhstan due to visa issues, namely: Kalinga Kumarage, Nadeesha Ramanayaka, Sumedha Ranasinghe and Nimali Liyanarachchi.

Sri Lanka Athletics request to add Himasha Eashan, Aruna Darshana, Waruna Lakshan Dayarathne and Nadeeka Lakmali was rejected by the Sports Ministry, though they approved the addition of Nilani Rathnayaka who is currently within the Olympic quota for the 3000m steeplechase. This will mark the first time in many years that a 4x100m women’s relay team will participate in an overseas competition, apart from South Asian Games in 2016 and 2019.

The team comprises the first five athletes at the last National Athletics Championship, of which four are below 21 years. Amasha de Silva, Shelinda Jansen, Medhani Jayamanne and Safiya Yamic will run the relay, while senior pro Lakshika Sugandhi is included as the fifth member. Apart from Sri Lanka, AFI has invited athletes from Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and Kazakhstan for the competition.

Team: 

Sumedha Ranasinghe (Javelin Throw), Kalinga Kumarage (400m), Nadeesha Ramanayaka (400m), Nimali Liyanarachchi (800m), Nilani Rathnayaka (3000m St. Ch)

4×100 Relay Team: 

Amasha de Silva, Shelinda Jansen, Medhani Jayamanne, Safiya Yamic, Lakshika Sugandhi