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.