by Reemus Fernando

Thrower Dilhani Lekamge and middle distance runner Gayanthika Abeyratne reached qualifying standards for the Asian Games as they came almost closer to matching their personal best performances in their respective events at the Sri Lanka Athletics conducted selection trial for three major Asian track and field events at Diyagama on Tuesday.

Lekamge hurled the javelin to a distance of 58.87 metres to reach the locally set qualifying standard of 58 metres as she come closer to her personal best (59.41 m) achieved in 2022. She was the only athlete to reach the qualifying standard for the quadrennial games in the events held in the morning.

Abeyratne who skipped the 800 metres in the morning came up with a 4:12.05 seconds feat in the women’s 1500 metres held in the afternoon to tick her ticket to the Asian Games starting in five months’ time in Hangzhou, China.

There were no big-name athletes smashing records and the much-anticipated showdown between current and former national record holders in 110 metres hurdles did not take place after the current record holder pulled out in the eleventh hour. But there were moments to cherish as a number of athletes achieved their personal best feats and seasonal best performances.

Gayanthika Abeyratne

The most exciting of them all was the personal bests achieved by 400 metres specialists Nadeesha Ramanayake and Rajitha Rajakaruna. Ramanayake who holds the national record in the women’s 4×400 metres clocked 52.80 to produce her personal best. The southerner is now the third fastest 400 metres sprinter in history as she overtook Menaka Wickramasinghe (52.93) to secure a place behind Olympian Damayanthi Dharsha and former national champion Chandrika Subashini.

Despite the absence of the two leading sprinters Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana the rest of the field delivered something to cherish in the men’s 400 metres. Rajakaruna produced a late surge to win ahead of Pabasara Niku and Pasindu Kodikara. He clocked 46.20 seconds, while Niku (46.55), Kodikara (46.70) and fourth-placed Dinuka Deshan (46.91) all came up with sub 47 seconds feats. With the two leading sprinters not featuring in this meet, the performances of these athletes will compel selectors to include a 4×400 metres team for both the Asian Games and the Senior Asian Athletics Championships.

In sprint events Rumeshika Ratnayake, country’s fourth fastest woman over the 200 metres produced a sub 24 seconds feat after five years and came within 42 milliseconds of the qualifying mark in the 200 metres before winning the 100 metres in a time of 11.96 seconds running to a headwind of -1.6.

Sarangi Silva had a winning jump measured at 6.42 metres. It was just seven centimeter short of the qualifying standards.

Official results of most of the events held in the afternoon were not available when this edition went to press.