Junior Team of 53 Athletes Takes Off to Chennai Tomorrow

A team of 53 athletes will take off tomorrow (9th) for the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship, which will be held in Chennai ,India.

The championship, hosted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), will take place at the newly laid Blue Synthetic Track in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, from September 11-13.

The team will consist of four relay teams. The boys’ and girls’ 4×100 metres and 4×400 metres relay teams will vie for honours alongside athletes competing in individual events.

The event in Chennai will be the third international meet for some junior athletes, as almost all athletes who won medals at the Asian Junior Championship in Dubai earlier this year are included in the team. Sri Lanka won five medals, including four relay medals, in Dubai. Just 10 days ago, a team of 12 juniors was competing in Lima, Peru, and they will now join this team.

Ayomal Akalanka, who finished overall 10th in the 400m hurdles at the World Junior Championship in Lima, will not feature in Chennai as the 400m hurdles event isn’t included in the championship. High jumper Lesadu Arthavindu will lead the team, while Jagath Knasairi will be the manager.

The country’s only Asian Junior individual medalist, Nannapurawa MV, Bibile athlete Madushani Herath, withdrew from the Chennai team due to an injury.

The last South Asian Junior Championship was held in Colombo six years ago (in 2018), where Sri Lanka excelled with Aruna Darshana becoming a star with three gold medals (200m, 400m, and 4x400m). Darshana went on to win Asian Junior gold medals in the 400m and 4x400m in the same year and became Sri Lanka’s first 400m runner to qualify for the semifinals during the Paris Olympics.

Team
Boys