Seven new meet records at Junior National meet

by Sajeewa Jayakody

Seven new meet records were established on the third day of the Junior National Athletics Championship held at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, Diyagama, Homagama yesterday. Nadeeshani Ramanayake clocked 2 minutes 09.26 seconds in the women’s 800m final to win the gold medal, erasing the previous record of 2:10.40 sec set by Nilanka Sanjeewani in 2007.

In the Girls Under-18 800 m final, M S Kumarasinghe of A Ratnayake C C, Walala created another record winning the gold medal. clockng 2:13.79 seconds.

Both athletes surpassed the qualifying standard time of 2:14.71 seconds for the 17th Asian Junior Athletics Championship to be held in Vietnam next month. Sri Lanka Army’s sprinter KS L Wickramasinghe set a new meet record in the boys Under-23 200m final qualifying for the Asian Junior Athletics Championship. He clocked 21.60 seconds, better than the qualifying standard of 21.67 seconds. Joseph Vaz College Long Jumper LP G Dhananjaya also booked his place for the Asian Junior Meet with a new meet record with a leap of 7.41 metres. He too cleared the qualifying standard of 7.18 metres. Hurdler S P A Dharshana of Weerakeppetipola CC, Akuramboda and sprinter S Ratwatte of Trinity College, Kandy also set new meet records.

In Under-20 200m final, Ratwatte clocked 21.73 seconds and Dharshana in 400m hurdles had the timing of 52.92 seconds to win gold medals.

Results of record breaking events

Boys

Under-23

200m: 1 KSL Wickramasinghe (Sri Lanka Army) 21.60 sec (NMR), 2 MPHL Minimuthu (St Mary’s College, Kegalle) 21.94 sec, 3 Vinura Lakmal (Maris Stella College, Negombo) 22.00 sec.

Under-20

200m: 1 S Ratwatte (Trinity College, Kandy) 21.73 sec (NMR), 2 Sachith Perera (Nalanda College, Colombo 10) 22.08 sec, 3 PGGC Ranaweera (St Sylvester’s College, Kandy) 22.26 sec.

400m Hurdles: 1 SPA Dharshana (Weerakeppetipola CC, Akuramboda) 52.92 sec (NMR), 2 P L Kodikara (Maliyadeva Boys College, Kurunegala) 54.67 sec, 3 Shehan Biyanwala (Jennings International School, Nainamadama) 55.85 sec.

Long Jump: 1 LPG Dhananjaya (St Joseph’s Vaz College, Wennappuwa) 7.41m (NMR), 2 H B Herath (Sri Sumangala College, Wariyapola) 7.04m, 3 Dilshan Dominios ( 7th Day Adventist High School) 6.98m.

Under-16

200m: 1 Shalika Santhush Weerasinghe (St Benedict’s College, Kotahena) 22.55 sec (NMR), 2 Adeesha Anjan (Lumbini College, Colombo 5) 22.72 sec, 3 Kavindu Mishal Bandara 22.91 sec.

Girls

Under-23

800m: 1 Nadeesha Ramanayake (Sri Lanka Army) 2:09.26 sec (NMR), 2 JMNUK Jayasundara (Sri Lanka Army) 2:11.58 sec, 3 AHMP Abeysinghe (A Ratnayake CC, Walala) 2:27.40 sec.

Under-18

800m: 1 K G D. Kumarasinghe (A Ratnayake CC, Walala) 2:13.79 sec (NMR), 2 S M Weerasekera (A Ratnayake CC, Walala) 2:23.84 sec, 3 Surenika Malkanthi (Pu/Welasiya R S, Madurankuliya) 2:24.38 sec.