Manjula hit by dengue – set to miss Asian GP

Sri Lanka’s premier high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekara has been hit by dengue fever and will miss the forthcoming Asian Grand Prix series.

Wijesekara who was suffering from fever since 13th April was admitted and is receiving treatment at Ward 50 of the General Hospital-Colombo where he has a low platelet count.

Wijesekara started the year in emphatic fashion securing a gold medal in the Philippines followed by a seasonal best 2.25m leap at the National trials on the unsupportive track of Diyagama where he had high hopes of achieving above 2.27m which is the National record that he set 13 years ago and equalled in 2005.

The 33-year-old Olympian and thrice Asian Championship Gold medallist finished in an unlucky sixth position at the last Asian Championship 2015 in Wuhan; he secured a bronze medal at the Asian Indoor Championship last year in Qatar.

This is the second time Wijesekara has caught the dengue fever. He suffered from it back in 2013 as well and made a comeback winning the Gold medal at the Asian Grand prix final leg with a 2.24m leap the same year and was in prime form since then continually clearing above 2.20m.

The Asian Championship 2017 will be held from July 6-7 and Manjula will have more than two months to prepare for the meet.