Mareena Herath wins Over-40 women’s 100m. final. :

Ranthelige, Kushani dazzle at Mercantile meet

by Leslie FERNANDO

Former national athlete R.M. Ranthelige of Airport and Aviation of Sri Lanka Ltd in the long jump and Kushani Kularatne of Janashakthi Insurance in the 1,500 metres, gave outstanding performances on day one of the 26th Mercantile Athletic Federation Championships 2009 held at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.

Ranthelige had a fine leap in the Men’s Championships long jump event with a distance of 6.91 metres in his fourth attempt. K.N.P. Perera of Smart Shirt (Lanka) Ltd. took second position with 6.36 metres while Maheel Kushan Egodawatta of Hatton National Bank was placed third (5.86 metres).

Kushani Kularatne was the other good performer when she ran a well timed race in the women’s 1,500 champions event. She returned a good time of 4.50:2 secs, O.M.D. Nisansala of MAS Intimate Cluster finished second 6.08:02 secs and T.S.M. Fernando also from MAS Intimate Cluster came third 8.16:6 secs.

Mareena Herath of Lake House SC beat her favourite rivals to win the women’s over 40 - 100 metres dash clocking 16.2 secs. She was the clear leader off the starting clocks until the finish.

H. Sunanda (MAS Intimate Cluster) was placed second 17.2 secs., K.A.D.L. Sriyanganee of Colombo Dock Yard third 18.7 secs.

Saman Indika of HNB and H.A.C. Ranasinghe of Airport Aviation were the fastest man and woman of the track winning the 100 metres events of the championships. Saman had a time of 11.3 secs while Ranasinghe ‘clocked’ 15.5 secs.

No record books

It was sad to note that the Mercantile Athletic Federation of Sri Lanka had failed to produce the past results and records established. It was a big setback as some of the athletes, who won their respective events were unable to compare their performances.

A totally negligent attitude by the MAFSL and it is hoped they would produce the master records book today.

Other results:

1,500 metres men over 35 novices: 1. P.G.C. Prasad (Colombo Dock Yard) 5.07:07 secs.

1,500 metres men veterans over 40: 1. I.A.A.S. Kumar (Lake House) 5.12.7 secs.

1,500 metre men over 45: 1. Nihal Vitharana (SriLankan Airlines) 5.43:05 secs.

1,500 metres men over 50: 1. K.G. Sunil Karunaratne (Telecom, Kandy) 5.39:7 secs.

Javalin throw veteran 45 women: 1. Vindhya Jayasuriya (Hong Kong Bank) 9.95 metres).

Javelin throw novices women: 1. A.S.N. Perera (Airport and Aviation Ltd. 19.91 metres.

Javelin throw veteran over 40 women: 1. Padma Perera (HNB) 22.14 metres.

Javelin throw women championship: 1. Sharline Fernnado (HNB) 27.99 secs.

The meet will be continued today at 9 a.m.