Sprinter Anura Darshana betters his 400m timing
Sprinter Aruna Darshana recorded his personal best, while middle distance runner Nilani Ratnayake was placed fourth in their respective events held at the 10th Kinami Michitaka Memorial Athletic Meet in Osaka, Japan yesterday.
Darshana renewed his personal best timing by clocking 45.49secs to place second in the Men’s 400m. He finished behind Japan’s Yuki Joseph, who clocked 45.39secs to record his personal best, as the 24-year-old surpassed his previous timing of 45.78secs.
On Thursday, Darshana clocked 45.59secs in the second heat of the Men’s 400m event, to finish overall third. Darshana’s timing comes in as the overall fourth best of the entire three finals held through the week. Darshana made an average start yesterday, but progressed with the rest of the runners until the final straight. He was placed fifth by the end of the 300m stretch, but made a late acceleration to gain three positions up, and end close behind Joseph by a whisker.
Ratnayake was placed overall fourth in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, despite leading the bunch for more than half of the entire race. Halfway through she lost momentum and was pushed to the fourth position. Ratnayake clocked 10 minutes and 02.90 seconds behind Australian Georgia Winkcup, who clocked 9 minutes and 50.81 seconds to place first, and two Japanese runners
Nishide Yuzuki and Mori Chikako. On Thursday, Gayanthika Abeyratne clocked 2 minutes and 04.35 seconds in the Women’s 800m event to place first.
It is reported that Darshana and fellow female athletes Gayanthika Abeyratne and Nilani Ratnayake have raised their own funds to take part in this meet, with the intention of gaining international exposure.