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Winning Gold after Gold and breaking Asian records was something the likes of Sugath Thilakarathne, Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha and Sriyani Kulawansha used to do years ago. Since then Sri Lanka has been looking for the next generation Sugath, Susanthika, Darsha and Sriyani without success. Even the junior athletes who showed glimpses of repeating that success faded away due to many reasons.

Poster boy

Then came the all new poster boy of Sri Lankan athletics: quarter miler Aruna Darshana. He created a wave across the island with his mesmerizing run at the Asian Junior Championship in Japan, where he beat them all in emphatic fashion to win the Gold, shattering a 19-year-old record in the process.

Social Media was abuzz and the whole country was eagerly waiting to know more details about the young champion, who took them back to the early days of Sri Lankan 400m Champion Sugath Thilakarathne.

It was in 1998 (20 years ago), that Thilakarathne won the Gold medal in the 400m at the Asian Games and Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, and the islanders saw a glimpse of that past glory – and may be even more – from the youngster in Japan.

His Asian Gold medal winning time of 45.79 seconds is the best by a Sri Lankan since 2006, which has also elevated him to Asian junior number one and World junior number 8. In fact, the youngster from Seruwawila has performed far better than Thilakarathne at junior level.

Like most of the Nation’s top athletes Aruna hails from the rural area of Seruwawila, some 230kms away from the capital, and did not have a rosy path to success, though he has now become the country’s top 400m runner, Asian junior number one and World junior number 8 quarter miler.

Despite his built, Aruna is a shy little boy in-front of the media. He withdrew from giving the athletes oath at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship last May citing its mental torture for him. That’s how much shy he is about public speaking.

For Aruna running was easy, but talking about it and about himself was the hardest.

“I ran for the Gold medal, but I could have done better and I will do better,” said Aruna, who was sufficiently relaxed after his return and spoke to Ceylon Athletics about his life.

Early life

19-year-old Aruna (and his twin) are the fourth born children to parents S.P. Premalal and A.A. Violet. His father is a farmer, while his mother is a housewife. The parents had a hard time bringing up the children (three elder brothers and twins).

He grew up in a small village called Dehiwatta in Seruwawila and schooled at Dehiwatta MV. He took part in school level competitions but without major success as his parents were unable to support his sporting career. However, his sporting abilities and potential for greater success showed at a young age.

School teacher Keshali Rathnasiri had seen early signs of Aruna’s potential during Division meets in Serunuwara. She had been transferred from the same Division as Dehiwatta MV to sports school Weerakkeppetipola NS, Akuramboda, and had told the authorities about him.

“She wasn’t a PTI but she had seen him run there and told us about him. We looked at him and knew he was good so we took him to our school, gave him hostel facilities and trained him,” said Aruna’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna.

Moving to Akuramboda

Aruna was enrolled to Weerakkeppetipola NS, Akuramboda in 2012 when he was in grade 8, and nearly one and half years later his twin brother Pasindu Bawantha also joined him .Since then Aruna made a steady journey to the top. Other than a small grant from the government of Rs 2,500 per month (which has very recently been increased to Rs 5,000), his father had to meet all his expenses until now, which wasn’t an easy task.  “He improved slowly. First he showed good signs in the 400m hurdle, but then his 400m speed improved, so we gave up hurdling and focused on sprinting,” said Coach Asanka.

Aruna started winning 400m races at regular meets and last year he finished on a high, clocking 47.19 seconds to become the best athlete and best sprinter. His twin brother Pasindu Bawantha too was going shoulder to shoulder by becoming the best thrower, which also motivated him to do well.

Even at that time Aruna had performed better than the Gold medalists of the past four Asian Junior championship editions, which sparked hopes for Asian Junior gold. Athletics Association tried to send Aruna and Asian Junior Silver medalist Pasindu Kodikara to Jamaica for training, but their transit visa to the US was rejected which prevented them from going, which in hindsight Coach Asanka reckons was probably for the best.

Golden year

The story from there onwards is pretty much straightforward. Aruna broke many barriers, the first being the 47 second barrier when he won the Junior Nationals, followed by South Asian Junior Championship. In South Asian Juniors Aruna finished with triple Gold medals in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m.

Then came the Asian Juniors in Japan, Aruna had little time to prepare himself for the big battle ahead because there was no time to do a training session as the team had arrived just a day before the event

“There was no rest, and the time difference also affected us. Even at midnight we found it difficult to sleep. But I had the determination; I had a responsibility and I think I fulfilled it,” said Aruna.

Breaking barriers

He broke the 46 seconds barrier at the Asian Juniors clocking an astonishing 45.79 seconds.

Thilakarathne, Rohan Pradeep and Prasanna Amarasekara were the only ones to do so before him. But Aruna is just 19 and improving. Sri Lanka team management was advised to withdraw Aruna from the 200m as a precaution to manage his workload of running three events (including heats and finals) within four days. And he ended up winning the 400m and 4x400m Gold, and had he run the 200m he may have won triple Gold. Aruna was not disappointed about missing the 200m after his amazing 400m time.

Aruna will have little time to rest as early next month he will be off to Finland for the IAAF World Junior Championship. Aruna has a big chance of finishing at the podium there, a position which no Sri Lankan has ever reached. And he will be the key member of the 4x400m relay team, which is also within podium range.

Aruna now has several well wishers buzzing in social media, businessmen ready to lend helping hands and volunteers who helped him in Japan.

But Aruna is no regular junior athlete. He is Sri Lanka’s brightest hope for another Olympic medal and what he needs now is professional sponsorship where he can be focused only on athletics without worrying about his expenses as he is spending his last days of his school career. It is high time for government authorities to come up with a sustainable system to look after him in future without changing policies with the change of government, which could leave National athletes’ futures in the balance.

Watch More 

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The Junior Men’s 4x400m relay team produced a third Gold medal as Sri Lanka finished their most successful Asian Junior campaign in history with nine medals (three Gold, four Silver and two Bronze), to finish overall fifth in the medals tally out of 35 countries at the Asian Junior Athletics Championship 2018 concluded in Gifu, Japan yesterday.

Men’s relay quartet comprising 400m individual Gold medal winner and record holder Aruna Darshana, Silver medalist Pasindu Kodikara, Ravishka Indrajith and Pabasara Niku, clocked 3 minutes 08 .70 seconds to win the Gold medal beating Thailand and Malaysia into second and third place.

Hosts Japan and South Asian rival India could not even get close to the SL junior team. After Pasindu powered SL to the front in the second lap following Niku’s first lap, it was Ravishka Indrajith who made the difference in the third lap (possibly the best), which created a huge lead. Aruna Darshana had no problem in bringing SL home safe after that to conclude the championship in emphatic fashion and create history. SL’s best medals tally before this edition of Asian Juniors was 6 medals with two Gold medals in 2012. Before this edition SL had only managed 20 medals from 18 previous editions.

The fourth and last day started with a surprise Silver medal from sprinter Amasha de Silva from Swarnamali GC Kandy in the 200m. The 100m Silver medalist was competing from lane 9 and was way behind coming off the bend, but her late surge helped her to win the second Silver medal with another personal best of 24.47 seconds.

Earlier the South Asian triple Gold medalist, who trains under Sanjeewa Weerakkody, won the Silver medal in the 100m with a personal best of 11.71 seconds.

Amasha then teamed up with Dilshi Kumarasinghe (who also won two medals – a Silver and a bronze), Romeshi Attidiya and Sachini Divyanjali in the girls 4x400m relay to produce another Bronze medal with a time of 3 minutes 45.16 seconds.

In the other events of the day High jumper Tharindu Dasun could not impress as he finished 8th in the event.

Click Here for all other Race Videos and Details

Gold

Aruna Darshana 400m 45.79 seconds (New meet record, New SL Junior record)

Parami Wasanthi Marisstella 3000m Steeple Chase (10:21.54 seconds, New SL Junior record)

4x400m Men’s relay (Aruna Darshana , Pasindu Kodikara, Ravishka Indrajith ,Pabasara Niku)

Silver

Pasindu Kodikara 400m -46.96 seconds

Dilshi Kumarasinghe 400 – 54.03 seconds (PB, New SL junior record)

Amasha de Silva 100m -11.71 seconds PB

Amasha de Silva 200m-24.47 seconds PB

Bronze

Dilshi Kumarasinghe 800m 2:04.53 seconds (PB, New SL Junior record)

4x400m Relay 3:45.16 sec (Dilshi Kumarasinghe,  Romeshi Attidiya, Amasha De Silva , Sachini Divyanjali)

The post Relay Gold elevates SL to 5th position appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

Gold

Aruna Darshana 400m 45.79 seconds (New meet record, New SL Junior record)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation

Parami Wasanthi Marisstella 3000m Steeple Chase (10:21.54 seconds, New SL Junior record)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation 

4x400m Men’s relay 3:08.70 (Aruna Darshana , Pasindu Kodikara, Ravishka Indrajith , Pabasara Niku)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation 

Silver

Pasindu Kodikara 400m -46.96 seconds
Watch Race | Watch Presentation

Dilshi Kumarasinghe 400 – 54.03 seconds (PB, New SL junior record)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation

Amasha de Silva 100m -11.71 seconds PB
Watch Race | Watch Presentation 

Amasha de Silva 200m-24.47 seconds PB
Watch Race | Watch Presentation 

Bronze

Dilshi Kumarasinghe 800m 2:04.53 seconds (PB, New SL Junior record)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation

4x400m Relay 3:45.16 sec (Dilshi Kumarasinghe, Romeshi Attidiya, Amasha De Silva , Sachini Divyanjali)
Watch Race | Watch Presentation 

The post SL wins 9 medals to end the most successful Junior’s campaign. appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

Sri Lanka relay quarter Aruna Darshana,Pasindu Kodikara, Pabasara Niku and Ravishka Indrajith won the Gold medal of the 4x400m relay at the Asian Junior Athletics championship concluded at Gifu , Japan  . Along with that SL secured their most successfull Asian Junio campaign wining Nine medals (Three Gold, Four silver and two bronze medals)

The post Video: SL wins Asian 4x400m Relay Gold appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

Young Sprinter Amasha de Silva secured her second Silver in the competition as she finished second in the girls 200m finals at the Asian Junior Athletics championship. Competing in the lane nine Amasha was nowhere near a medal by the first 100m but her late surge helped her to win the second silver medal with another personal best of 24.47 seconds in the event.

Earlier the triple Gold medalist from Swarnamali GC Kandy who trains under Sanjeewa Weerakkody won the silver medal of the 100m with personal best of 11.71 seconds .

Medal Ceremony

More:- http://www.ceylonathletics.com/events/ajac2018

The post Amasha shines with second Silver medal appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

Young distance runner from Kuliyapitiya, Parami Wasanthi Marisstella who is just turned 17 years this year produced the second Gold medal for SL while Dilshi Kumarasinghe clinched the 800m Bronze medal at the Asian Junior Athletic Championship 2018 continued at Gifu Japan .

Along with this performance Sri Lanka has now won six medals (2 Golds, three Silvers and a Bronze) to equal their best haul in history with five more events left today.

Wasanthi from Kuliyapitiya CC was the youngest in the race and is eligible to compete at the 2020 Asian Junior Championship even so she had no problem of winning the 3000 m steeple chase Gold medal by a reasonable margin as she clocked a personal best of 10 minutes 21. 54 seconds, almost 7 seconds ahead of Silver medalist Wanhua Tian of China (10:28.24 seconds).

This young athlete also represented Sri Lanka at Rugby (National under 16 women’s team). Training under Coach Janitha Jayasinghe, Wasanthi likes to lead the race from the beginning, for the first time in her life, Wasanthi judged the race well running with the bunch until last two rounds when she took off to seal the Gold medal in emphatic fashion.

Dilshi wins second medal

Dilshi Kumarasinghe, the 400m silver medalist form A. Rathnayake CC Walala secured her second medal in the Championship winning bronze medal in the 800m with an impressive personal best of 2 minutes 04.53 seconds.  Athlete trains under Coach Susantha Fernando, who is also the manager on the tour, could not podium in the last edition of AJAC in 2016. This year it seemed she was fighting for Gold medal up to the last 100m from the silver medal position but Japanese Ayano Shiomi (2:04.50 seconds) cruised through to win silver while another Japanese athlete, Ayaka Kawata won Gold with 2:04.14 seconds

Harsha fumble and lost possible Gold

Middle distance runner from A. Rathnayaka CC Walala only had himself to blame for his poor tactics that saw him getting knocked out from the 800M heat losing a possible gold for SL in the event.  Coming off a good performance of 1 minute 51.97 seconds and the South Asian Junior Gold medal, Harsha was a prime medal hope for Sri Lanka. But, after taking an early lead in the heats, Harsha slowed down unnecessarily where his late surge only helped him finish third and his time was 1 minute 55 .06 seconds which did not help him advance to the finals. The Gold medallist in finals, Anu Kumar of India won it on a time of just 1 minute 54. 11 seconds.

Ridma Disappoints 

Long Jumper Ridma Nishadhi Abeyrathne  could not perform at least close to her best as she finished fifth with a best leap of 5.75m. The Athlete who had a personal best of 6.08m and seasonal best of 6.03m was another  of medal hopes of SL but failed to live up to expectations just like at the South Asian Juniors where she finished second.  The bronze medal of the competition was won in a leap of 5.92m by Mirei Yoshioka of Japan. Ayaka Kora of Japan (6.44m ) and Jiawei Zhong of China (also 6.44m) finished first and second respectively.

In other events of the day sprinter Amasha de Silva who won the 100m silver finished third in the 200m heats and advanced to the finals by clocking 24.76 seconds. Pasindu Kodikara the 400m Silver medalist finished fourth in the 400m hurdle heats clocking 53.35 seconds and advanced to the finals.

Both Amasha and Marisstella achieved IAAF World Junior qualification but Marisstella will focus on the Youth Olympic qualification rather than the World Juniors as both events are to be held in the same month.

Earlier on Friday 400m runner Aruna Darshana won Gold with a new meet record of 45.79 seconds while Pasindu Kodikara (400m), Dilshi Kumarasinghe (400m) and Amasha de Silva (100m) won Silver medals.

Sunday Schedule

10.05am – 400m hurdle Final (Pasindu Kodikara)

10.15 am- High Jump Final (Tharindu Dasun)

10.30am – 200m Women Final (Amasha de Silva)

12.55pm – 4x400m Women Final

01.10pm – 4x400m Men final

The post Wasanthi shines with Gold , Dilshi secured her second medal appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

වලල ඒ රත්නායක මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලය නියෝජනය කරන ඩිල්ෂි කුමරසිංහ අද මීටර් 800 කාන්තා ඉසව්වට සහභාගිවෙමින් ආසියානු කණිෂ්ඨ මලල ක්‍රිඩා ශූරතාවලියේ දී ලබා ගත් දෙවැනි පදක්කම සතු කරගැනීමට සමත්වූවාය‍

ඊයේ මීටර් 400 ඉසව්වෙන් පුද්ගලික හොඳම කාලය වාර්තා කරමින් රිදී පදක්කම දිනාගත් ඇය අද ලෝකඩ පදක්කම හිමිකරග්තතේ, ද මීටර් 800 ඉසව්වේ ඉහළම දක්ෂතාව දක්වමින් වීම විශේෂත්වයක් වේ.

The post (Video) උපරිම දක්ෂතාවෙන් ජපන් ක්‍රීඩිකාවනට පමණක් දෙවැනි වූ ඩිල්ෂිගෙන් තවත් පදක්කමක් appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

ආසියානු කණිෂ්ඨ මලල ක්‍රීඩා ශූරතාවලියට සහභාගීවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමට දින තුනක් අවසන් වන විට රන් පදක්කම් දෙකක්, රිදී පදක්කම් තුනක් හා එක් ලෝකඩ පදක්කමක් ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට හැකිව තිබේ.

මෙය මෑත ඉතිහාසයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණිෂ්ඨ කණ්ඩායමක් මලල ක්‍රීඩවෙන් දැක්වූ ඉහළම දක්ෂතාවක් ලෙස සඳහන් කළ හැකිය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, බලධාරීන්ගේ අමනෝඥ තීරණයක් හේතුවෙන්, අහිමිවූ එක් පදක්කමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගෙන හැර දැක්විය යුතුවේ.

ඒ මීටර් 100 බාලිකා සහාය දිවීමේ ඉසව්වෙන් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිව තිබූ පදක්කමයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා මලල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයේ නිළධාරීන්ට හා අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ පූර්ව නිගමනය අනුව, ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලිකා  සහාය දිවීමේ කණ්ඩායමට පදක්කමක් දිනාගැනීමේ අවස්ථාවක් නොතිබිණ.

ඔවුන් දිගින් දිගටම ප්‍රකාශ කළේ තත්පර 46 ක් වූ පරිසාධන මට්ටම පසුකිරීමට ඉහත ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් අපොහොසත් වීම මත, කණ්ඩායම ආසියානු ශූරතාවලියට යවා පළක් නැති බවය. නමුත් අද අවසන් වූ එහි අවසන් තරගයේ කාලයන් නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමේ දී, ඉහත පූර්ව නිගමනය පුස්සක් බව සනාථ කර තිබේ.

චීන කණ්ඩායම තත්පර 45.06 ක කාලයකින් රන් පදක්කම දිනා ගනිද්දී, ප්‍රභල ජපාන කණ්ඩයමට වාර්තා කළ හැකි වුණේ තත්පර 45.94 කි. ඔවුන් දෙසතියකට පෙර ජපානයේ දී ම තත්පර 45.79 ක දක්ෂතාවක් දැක්වූ කණ්ඩාමයි. එසේම ලෝකඩ පදක්කම හිමිකරගත් හොංකොං කණ්ඩායම වාර්තා කළේ තත්පර 47 ක දක්ෂතාවක් වේ.

වසර 19 ක් පැරණි ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණිෂ්ඨ වාර්තාව බිඳ හෙලූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලිකාවන් දකුණු ආසියානු කණිෂ්ඨ මලල ක්‍රීඩා තරගාවලියේ දී තත්පර 46.23 ක දක්ෂතාක් දැක්වූයේ එක් සතියක පුහුණුවීමකින් පසුවය. එසේම, තරගාවලිය ආරම්භ වන විට ඔවුන්ගේ පුද්ගලික දක්ෂතාවර්ධනය වී ඇති ආකාරය පහත දැක්වේ.

දකුණු ආසියානු කණිෂ්ඨ මලල ක්‍රීඩා තරගාවලියේ  කළමණාකරුගේ ක්‍රියා කලාපයට එරෙහිව සාක්ෂි ලබා දීම ජපාන සංචාරයෙන් එම කණ්ඩායම විසිවීමට හේතුවක් දැයි සැක සිතේ. අවසානයේ සිදුවූවේ කෙනෙකු වෙනුවෙන්, ක්‍රීඩාවේ අනාගතය සමග ක්‍රීඩා කළ ඔලමොට්ටල පාලකයන්ගේ නිරුවත හෙලිවීම පමණි.

විදෙස් ගමන් සඳහා උත්සුක වන නිළධාරීන් හා බලධාරීන්ගේ අමනෝඥ තීරණයක් හේතුවෙන් අප රටට අහිමි වුණේ, මුදලට මිළ කළ නොහැකි පදක්කමකි.

ක්‍රීඩාවක් නොකල අමාත්‍යවරයෙකුට හා කල් ඉකුත්වූ විශ්‍රාම සුව විඳිනු නිළධාරීන්ට එම පදක්කමේ වටිනාකම මිළ කළ හැකි වුවද ක්‍රීඩාවට හිතැත්තන්ට හා ක්‍රීඩාවේ නියැලෙන්නන්ට එය අමිල වස්තුවක් වේ.

The post අදූරදර්ශී තීරණයකින් නැති කළ පදක්කම appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.

කුලියාපිටිට මධ්‍ය මහා විද්‍යාලයේ පාරමී වසන්තී මාරිස්ටෙලා, අද ඓතිහාසික ජයක් වාර්තා කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට රන් පදක්කමක් දිනා දීමට සමත් වූවාය.

වයස අවුරුදු 20 න් පහළ බාලක බාලිකාවන් වෙනුවෙන් පැවැත්වෙන, කණිෂ්ඨ ආසියානු මලල ක්‍රීඩා ශූරතාවලියේ  දී, ඇය මීටර් 3000 බාධක දිවීමේ බාලිකා ඉසව්වට සහභාගීවෙමින් අද දැක්වූ දක්ෂතාව මිනින්තු 10:21.54 කි එය පුද්ගලිකව ඇය වාර්තා කර ඇති හොඳම දක්ෂතාව ද වේ.

මෙය ඇය එම ඉසව්වෙන් මීට පෙර වාර්තා කර තිබූ හොඳම කාලය 10:37.33 තත්පර 15 කින් පමණ අලුත් කිරීමක් ලෙසද සැලකිය හැකිය.

The post කුලියාපිටිය අවුරුදු 17 මාරිස්ටෙලාගෙන් මව්බිමට රන් පදක්කමක් (Video) appeared first on Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portal | Fixtures | Results.