Lankan athletes to Vietnam with high hopes

Chinthana Wasala in Thailand

Sri Lankan athletic contingent comprised of 15 athletes, Manager and Physiotherapist left for Hanoi, Vietnam to take part in the third and final leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletic Championships 2008. It will be held on 30th with Sri Lanka fielding their best effort.

Sri Lanka's main focus will be on the women's 400m, Men's 400 and 400mX4 advancements in Hanoi.

"We are happy with our performances in both Bangkok and Korat. We missed the Gold of men's 400m relay due to the absence of Rohan Pradeep Kumara in Bangkok.

But in Korat we rested our best 400m runner Prasanna Amarasekera.

We only had a little gap between us and the second placed Thailand. Prasanna will join the team at Hanoi and that will fill up that gap and surely we will win at Hanoi."

said Sunil Gunawardena, the Sri Lankan Manager on tour.

Chandrika Subhashini was also rested for the women's 400m relay with the same intention. She advanced to a silver medal getting passed a significant point of her career.

She clocked her career best of 52.36secs. becoming second best Sri Lankan women athlete in the 400m event after Damayanthi Darsha.

Sri Lanka lost the third position for the men's 100m as Umanga Surendra was dropped back to a lower slot at Korat.

Sri Lanka only won medals in men's and women's 400m, men's 400m relay and men's 100m so far in the series while only seven athletes have contributed to the total of medals Sri Lanka achieved during the first two editions.

Prasanna with the other 400m runners and Chandrika are very much confident over an advancement on medals , doing Sri Lanka their best at Hanoi.