Junior National Championship starts today – Foreign exchange crisis could hurt athletes qualifying for World Junior Championships   

by Reemus Fernando  

The Junior National Athletics Championships starting at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo today will present an opportunity for numerous junior athletes to test their skills at the national level after a lapse of two years. The four-day championship will also be the final opportunity for the athletes in the Under 20 age category to reach qualifying standards for the World Junior Championships. But with the sports administrators finding it difficult to obtain the necessary funds to send teams for overseas competitions, it is doubtful whether even those who have already qualified would get the opportunity to represent the country at the world stage.

Some nine athletes have already reached qualifying standards for the World Junior Championships at different meets during the recent months but officials are considering sending a pruned down team due to the ongoing foreign exchange crisis.

“We will not be able to send all athletes who reach qualifying standards for the World Junior event due to the current economic crisis. We will try to send athletes whose performances are the highest ranked,” a senior official of Sri Lanka Athletics told The Island last week.

According to him the athletes who have bettered the qualifying standards by big margins are likely to get the go-ahead.

That will put pressure on a number of juniors who have bettered the qualifying standards by narrow margins to do better at the meet starting today.

Ratnayake Central, Walala runner Tharushi Karunaratne and Ambagamuwa Central hurdler Dhanuka Dharshana are among the leading contenders to make the team for the World Junior Championships which will be held in Cali, Colombia in August.

Sri Lanka Athletics had been sending all athletes who reach qualifying standards for the biennial event in recent years.

At the last championships in Kenya, Sri Lanka’s mix relay team reached the final where they were ranked fifth for a time of 3:26.39 secs. Incidentally, two of the athletes, Karunaratne and Sithum Jayasundara who were part of the team that toured Kenya have reached qualifying standards again.

A number of athletes who have not reached qualifying standards for the World Junior Championships will be trying their best to accomplish that target during these four days.

Sri Lanka Athletics was also looking forward to conducting the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Sri Lanka this year and the Junior Nationals were to be the final selection ground for that. But the present crisis has derailed many such plans.