Vinoj shatters Sugath’s record
Sprinter Vinoj Suranjaya de Silva made it a memorable day for himself as well as the athletic fraternity of the country by shattering the long standing Sri Lanka 200m record held by Sugath Thilakarathne, clocking 20.68 secs in the first national trials for the Asian Games that started at the Sugathadasa Stadium Colombo today.
After the four day junior championships saw several records being established. Sprinters were itching to run on the newly laid track at Sugathadasa Stadium which produced some amazing fast timings at the Junior Nationals.
Vinoj competing in the 200m heat equalled his personal best of 20.84 seconds indicating that something special was anticipated in the afternoon. Competing in the finals, the 23-year-old South Asian Gold medallist had a near perfect start and from then onwards he left the rest of the field dazed as neither Himasha Eashan nor Dilip Ruwan had any chance of catching up with him.
Vinoj erased the record of 20.69 seconds set by Sugath Thilakarathne in 1998 during the Bangkok Asian Games where he won a bronze medal and Sri Lanka hadn’t won a sprint medal at the Asian Games since then.
Anjani silences critics
Long Jumper Anjani Pulwansa leapt her personal best of 6.09m to win the women’s long jump silencing her critics who doubted her ability to break the 6m barrier.
Pulwansa is already selected for the Thailand Open Athletic Championship as she is the defending National Champion in the event. Since she could not cross the 6m barrier then, some of coaches started criticizing the decision and questioned her inclusion. To top that Sports Ministry refused to fund the National Team for the Thailand Open Championship.
Former Gateway athlete, Anjani replied them all and justified her selection by leaping her personal best of 6.09m in her third attempt to win the trials just a few days before the tour of the Thai-Open, proving she can go further in the event. Her performance is also ranked 9th in the Sri Lanka all-time list.
Junior long jumper Ridma Nishadi too impressed with a leap of 6.03m making up for her disappointing show in the Junior Nationals and with that booked her place for the Asian Junior Championship.
Meanwhile, in the men’s long jump, Danushka Sandaruwan leapt a personal best of 7.99m to win the event. Sandaruwan who jumped 7.99m during his first three attempts did not take part in the best eight rounds, yet his jump was good enough to secure the gold medal.
Jaffna’s vaulting queen Anitha Jagatheshwaran took a somewhat foolish decision to take part in the national trials just three days after her SL record leap of 3.55m in the Junior Nationals with her foot injured.
Anitha is suffering from a shoe cut from her new spikes and she tried to compete despite the painful foot and managed to clear only 3.30m. With another trial scheduled before the Asian Games selections, Anitha had the chance of resting and recovering without competing at this trial but her and coach’s decision to compete aggravated her wound further.
Former national champion in the 110m hurdles Ireshani Rajasinghe made a comeback after an injury ridden year to win the event with a time of 14.52 seconds while Rumeshika Rathnayake won the 200m in 23.98 seconds.
Trials will conclude today with the 100m and 400m finals on the card.
