SADEEPA SMASHES 12 YEAR OLD RECORD
55th Junior Athletic Nationals
Sadeepa Henderson of Gateway College Rajagiriya shattered a 12 year old record on the penultimate day of the 55th Junior National Athletic Championships continued at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Complex in Diyagama yesterday.
The Sri Lanka junior athlete put up an outstanding performance and returned a splendid time of 25.88 seconds in the Girls’ Under-16, 200 metres final.
She also bettered the previous record of 25.97 seconds held by J. A. N. S. Jayasinghe of St. Joseph’s BMV Kegalle in 2005.
Altogether the meet produced a total of five new meet records while two records were equalled while bringing the total number of records to 14.
Meanwhile, P. G. N. Madushika of Sri Lanka Air Force also stole the limelight as she shattered a ten year old record while competing in the Girls’ Under-23, 200 metres event.
Madushika clocked 24.78 seconds and erased the previous record of 24.83 seconds held by Chandrika Subashini of Senanayake MMV Madampe in 2007.
In addition, Asmika Herath of Kuliyapitiya Central established her second record of the meet with another fine performance in the Girls’ Under18, 3,000 metres final.
Asmika who earlier set up a new meet record in the Girls’ Under-18, 2,000 metres steeple chase event, finished first in the 3,000 metres final with a time of 10 minutes 18.8 seconds.
She also bettered the previous record of 10 minutes 35.75 seconds held by Y. M. T. D. D. Kumari of A. Rathnayake MMV Walala.
Meanwhile, Sheshan Kariyawasam of St. Joseph’s College Colombo also set up a new meet record in the Boys’ Under-18, 110 metres hurdles final.
He returned a time of 14.41 seconds and erased the previous record of 14.48 seconds held by Akila Rivishanka of Seevali MMV Ratnapura.
Nuwan Dananjaya Bulugahapitiya of Berrewaerts College Kandy also established a new meet record in the Boys’ Under-16, 800 metres final.
He clocked 1:59.82 seconds and bettered the previous record of 2:00.59 seconds held by D. M. H. Sandaruwan of A. Rathnayake MMV Walala in 2016.
A.puvitharan of Chavakachcheri Hindu College and H. S. S. Kumara of Sri Lanka Army had the satisfaction of equalling two records in their respective events.
Puvitharana produced an effort of 4.20 metres in the Boys Under-18 pole vault final while Kumara clocked 21.60 seconds in the Boys’ Under-23, 200 metres final.
The meet will conclude today with a total of 36 finals to be worked off.