A hurdles showdown to brighten the day

By Reemus Fernando

Schools athlete Tharushi Karunaratne who shone brightly at the last meet and the men’s 400 metres specialist Kalinga Kumarage will not be in action but a showdown between current and former national record holders in the men’s 110 metres hurdles namely, Janindu Lakvijaya and Roshan Ranatunga is likely to brighten the day when the selection trial for three major track and field events takes place at Diyagama today.

Ratnayake Central, Walala runner Karunaratne who stunned national record holder Gayanthika Abeyratne in the women’s 800 metres at the first selection trial has pulled out from the competition due to sickness and Kumarage too has been granted an exemption to skip today’s vital selection according to Sri Lanka Athletics sources.

The teams for the postponed Asian Games, Senior Asian Athletics Championships and Junior Asian Athletics Championships will be selected from the athletes who excel in this meet.

Lakvijaya had little competition when he shattered Roshan Ranatunga’s national record in the men’s 110 metres hurdles at the last trial. Ranatunga did not feature at the last trial but will be in action today. An exciting competition is on the cards when history’s two fastest Sri Lankan hurdlers compete shoulder to shoulder. The two athletes are the only hurdlers to have clocked legal sub 14 seconds.

However, the possibility of one of them making it to the Asian Games depends entirely on their ability to produce another Sri Lanka National record performance. Sri Lanka Athletics has set 13.48 seconds as the selection standard for the discipline.

In the men’s 400 metres, Aruna Dharshana will have the company of Pabasara Niku to strive for success in the sprint event without Kumarage. The selection standard set for the event is 45.70 seconds.

South Asian Games medallist Dilshi Kumarasinghe is expected to make a return in the women’s 800 metres, while Gayanthika Abeyratne is expected to compete in the 1,500 metres.

Steeplechase national record holder Nilani Ratnayake is expected to do well in her pet event after producing a feat of 9:40.65 seconds at the meet held in March.