Records take a beating despite rain on day two
A new Sri Lanka record and three new meet records were shattered as the second day of the 90th National Athletics Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium came to an early end due to rain in Colombo yesterday. The day’s schedule was, however, unfinished as the organisers could not complete the Men’s High Jump and the Men’s 3000 metres Steeplechase final events due to heavy rain which came down around 5.20pm. However an official of the Sri Lanka Athletics Association stated that both events will be held today, the final day of the competition without any change to their scheduled programme.
D.M.E.D.K. Fernando of Sri Lanka Army established a new Sri Lanka record in the Men’s Triple Jump by achieving a distance of 16.37 metres to break a sixyear-old record. He broke the record held by S.D.C.S. Weerasinghe who established both the national and meet records in 2006 which were 16.26 and 16.10 metres respectively. Fernando was far better than his close competitors I.D.S.S. Jayasinghe of the Army (16.25m) and Sanath Udayanga (15.63m) of Sri Lanka Police who finished at second and third respectively.
However the women athletes’ continuous dominance was evident as they established three new meet records on the second day. Two records came from the Sri Lanka Army who went on to win three finals during a day where Sri Lanka Air Force conquered. The other was recorded by Sri Lanka Navy athlete M.N.D. Muthunayake who reached a distance of 14.50 metres in the Shot Putt event. She bettered her own record of 14.24 metres recorded in 2009. W.T.K. Fernando of Sri Lanka Air Force who cleared a distance of 13.79 metres was placed second while Oshadi Silva of Sri Lanka Schools became third with a distance of 12.03 metres.
In the Women’s 800 metres final, N.M.C. Dilrukshi of Sri Lanka Army clocked 2 minutes 04.97 seconds to shatter the previous best timing of 2 minutes 08.23 seconds set by her former team- mate D.H.M. Priyadharshani recorded in 2003. Two Air Force runners, D.A.S. Samanmali and K.A.D. Sandakanthi finished second and third respectively after recording their personal best timings. Samanmali clocked 2 minutes 06.24 seconds while her teammate finished 00.71 seconds behind at third. In the Javelin Throw H.L.N.D. Lekamge of Sri Lanka Army achieved 55.76 metres to erase the previous record of 55.07 by her fellow team mate Nadeeka Lakmali in 2008. Previous record holder Lakmali finished at second place with a rather unimpressive distance of 53.79 metres while unattached K.A.M.P. Silva placed third with a distance of 45.93 metres.
Earlier in the day N.M.C.C. Nawasinghe of Sri Lanka Air Force won the Men’s 10000 metres event with a timing of 31:12.14. W.H.M. Wijesinghe of Sri Lanka Army was far behind the winner at second place as he timed 31:23.84 while his team mate Sujith Kumara was further behind at third after clocking 31:38.11. Navy Sports Club won their second event of the day through A.J.D. Per- era who recorded 14.27 metres to win the Men’s Shot Putt event. T.S. Wanniarachchi of Sri Lanka Air Force cleared 14.21 metres to finish second while Sailor U.S.P.H. Battge finished at third with a distance of 13.79 metres.
Mercantile Athletic Association’s Harshani Wijesinghe claimed the Women’s 100m Hurdles final with a timing of 14.26 second. She had close rivalry from G.A.I.S. Dayananda who clocked 14.60 to finish at second as Sri Lanka Air Force’s D.P. Mohottala finished at third with a timing of 14/98 seconds. In the Men’s 110m Hurdles final K.W.S. Randiwa of Sri Lanka Army clocked 14.95 seconds to win the race. A close battle existed for the second and third places as Navy’s K.P.H. Nirmal finished ahead with a timing of 15.02 seconds to claim the second slot while Army’s W.M.I. Abeynayaka finished 01 second behind to finish at third. Sri Lanka Air Force’s W.K.L.A. Nimali came from behind to snatch the Women’s 400m Hurdles final, clocking 1:02.56 seconds while race leader Gamhani Jayathilaka of Sri Lanka Schools had to content with the second place. She clocked 1:02.76 seconds ahead of Lakshani Hettigama who clocked 1:03.76 seconds. Sri Lanka Army swept the Hammer Throw as their athletes bagged the top three places with L.A.D. Elansan leading the way with a distance of 44.16metres. K. Nilantha and N.M. Lidagedara won the second and third places clearing 43.59 and 42.59 metres respectively.
On the first day of the event Sri Lanka Air Force athletes dominated the proceedings as two new records, including a national record. National steeplechase record holder Eranga Dulakshi of Sri Lanka Air Force bettered her own record timing 10 minutes and 11.72 seconds to finish ahead of U.K.N. Ratnayake and K.A.C.G.K. Abeyratne who represented the Army. In the women’s 200 metres spriunt Sujani Buddhika of Air Force clocked 23.92 seconds to beat former national champion Jani Chathurangani of Sri Lanka Navy. In total two national records and four meet records have been established by the end of second day. The meet will end today.