SLA announce fate of remaining National Events

Sri Lanka Athletics will conduct a special Selection Trial to choose athletes for the World Under-20 Championships to be held in Kenya in the event of the Junior Nationals being cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka Athletics reiterated yesterday that it will conduct the remaining events of the 99th National Championships after giving one month prior notice and will conduct a selection trial for juniors in July.

“As arranged we conducted 9 priority events on 21st May at Sugathadasa Stadium. There are 29 more events to be conducted. These 29 events will also be conducted as we did earlier in three or four stages. We will give minimum one month notice prior to conduct these events so that coaches and athletes can prepare for the competition” Said SLA in a statement

There was uncertainty regarding the disciplines which were not conducted during the first stage of the National Championship. The Sri Lanka Athletics had earlier scheduled the 99th National Championship to be conducted in four stages over four weekends starting from the May 22 and 23 weekend. The newly imposed travel restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic have made it impossible to conduct the events in the immediate future. When the sport’s governing body decides to conduct events the athletes will be given prior notice.

“As you are aware we have postponed the junior National championships 2021 due to the present pandemic situation . The fresh dates will be informed in due course and will give minimum six weeks preparation time for the athletes and coaches. However if there’re any difficulties in conducting the Junior National Championships , a special selection competition will be held to select the athletes for World U 20 Championships in Kenya. We will give minimum four weeks for preparation. It will most likely to be held in the month of July and we conduct only limited events and only for the athletes who has achieved a standard set by SriLanka Athletics. The entry standard for this trail will be informed shortly. Guidelines to be followed for all the competitions will be issued with the announcement of competition dates” it further states.

The track and field governing body conducted the first stage of the 99th National Championship on Friday prioritizing Olympic targeted events. While none of the athletes could reach tough qualifying standards for the quadrennial games in Tokyo on the wet weather hampered day, junior athlete Tharushi Karunaratne reached qualifying standards for the World Under-20 Championships to be held in Nairobi.

So far three athletes have reached qualifying standards for the World Under-20 Championships. Holy Cross College, Gampaha athlete Shanika Lakshani and Ratnayake Central runner Karunaratne in the 800 metres and Asian Youth Championship medallist Isuru Kaushalya in the 400 metres have reached qualifying standards for the World Under-20 event.

Sri Lanka Athletics is looking forward to conduct the Junior Nationals Championship to give opportunities to those who have trained under trying circumstances due to the Covid 19 pandemic.