Sports
Sri Lanka Athletics in talks with NOC to field women’s relay team for Asian Games
by Reemus Fernando
The record-breaking performance of the women’s 4×400 metres relay team at the recently held Asian Athletics Championship has forced Sri Lanka Athletics to make a fresh request to include the team for the upcoming Asian Games, despite the entries being closed.
Although the deadline for entries has expired and teams have been finalized for the multi-sports event, two slots in the track and field team have become vacant due to the absence of triple jumper Shreshan Danajaya and steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake who were originally selected for the team. While Dananjaya decamped during an overseas competition, Ratnayake is serving a provisional suspension for a doping violation.
Sri Lanka Athletics was not planning to send a women’s relay team as the selectors were compelled to stick to tough selection criteria to fill the quota made available for track and field sports. With two of the relay team members, namely Nadeesha Ramanayake and Tharushi Karunaratne already in the team for individual events, Sri Lanka Athletics has now requested National Olympic Committee to negotiate with their Chinese counterparts to field the women’s relay team.
The Sri Lanka Women’s 4×400 metres relay team established a new national record in winning the Asian Athletics Championship silver medal on Sunday, just a day after the deadline for finalizing the teams for the Asian Games.
Apart from the athletes who featured at last week’s event, Italy-based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon, US-based high jumper Ushan Thivanka and sprinter Rumeshika Ratnayake are the other athletes making the Asian Games team for individual events.
Sri Lanka Athletics has requested the inclusion of South Asian Games medallist Dilshi Kumarasinghe and Asian Junior Championship medallist Jayeshi Uththara in the team for the Asian Games as their names were already in the ‘long list’ for the quadrennial event.
While Kumarasinghe was part of the team that broke the long-standing women’s 4×400 metres at the 2019 edition of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha. Both Uththara and Kumarasinghe could not make the team for the Asian Athletics Championships after they placed third and fourth respectively at the trial. If the NOC succeeds in getting the opportunity for the relay team both Kumarasinghe and Uththara will be able to fight for their places.
Though the teams for the Asian Games are finalized, Sri Lanka Athletics has made the upcoming National Championships compulsory for the athletes selected for the Asian Games.
National thrower Dilhani Lekamge produced her season’s best performance to emerge victorious in the women’s javelin event on day two of the Selection Trial held at Diyagama on Friday.
Fresh from winning the silver medal at the recently concluded Asian Throwing Championships in Mokpo, Lekamge delivered an impressive throw of 58.57 metres to comfortably secure first place. Her nearest challenger, D.H. Maduwanthi, could only manage a distance of 51.32 metres.
Meanwhile, reigning national champion Madushani Herath continued to stamp her authority in the horizontal jumps with another notable performance, clearing 6.18 metres. Competing in the Under-23 age category, Herath further strengthened her position as the country’s leading long jumper.
In the open women’s long jump event, which featured several junior athletes, G.S. Ranaweera emerged victorious with a leap of 5.83 metres.
The women’s 400 metres final saw experienced sprinter Nadeesha Ramanayake being pipped to second place by G.A. Sathsarani, who clocked an impressive winning time of 53.71 seconds.
In the men’s events, Y.W. Kumara claimed the triple jump title with a leap of 16.28 metres, while Janindu Lakvijaya won the 110 metres hurdles in a time of 14.25 seconds, adding further excitement to an eventful second day of competition at Diyagama. (RF)
The inaugural game of the Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played between the Jaffna and Galle teams, who emerged as the Champions and Runners-up respectively in the 2024 season.
The opening game is scheduled to be played on 17th July at the SSC Grounds, commencing at 7.30 p.m.
Prior to the start of the tournament opener, a spectacular opening ceremony will be held at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.
The Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played from 17th July to 8th August across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RDICS, Dambulla; PICS, Pallekele; and RPICS, Colombo.
The tournament is conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder.
The inaugural game of the Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played between the Jaffna and Galle teams, who emerged as the Champions and Runners-up respectively in the 2024 season.
The opening game is scheduled to be played on 17th July at the SSC Grounds, commencing at 7.30 p.m.
Prior to the start of the tournament opener, a spectacular opening ceremony will be held at the SSC Grounds in Colombo.
The Lanka Premier League 2026 will be played from 17th July to 8th August across four venues: SSC, Colombo; RDICS, Dambulla; PICS, Pallekele; and RPICS, Colombo.
The tournament is conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the owner of the LPL, in partnership with The IPG Group, the event rights holder.
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