Sprinters Himasha Eshan and his training partner Suranjaya de Silva shared the first two places of the men’s 100 metres dash in an eagerly anticipated final, while St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle athlete Rumeshika Ratnayake turned tables on veterans in the women’s 100 metres as the Asian Athletics Championship selection trial ended at the Mahinda Rajapaksha International Stadium, Diyagama on Sunday.
Kalutara Vidyalaya sprinter Eshan clocked 10.49 seconds to pip his training partner de Silva by just 0.03 seconds. While Mohamed Ashroff was placed third with a time of 10.63 seconds former champion Shehan Ambepitiya settled for the fourth place with a time of 10.67 seconds.
The interest of the men’s final grew when Eshan clocked a faster 10.46 seconds feat in the semi final.
In the women’s 100 metres, Ratnayake clocked 11.81 seconds to win. She was also the fastest in the heats as she returned a time of 11.80 seconds to qualify. It was the only sub 12 seconds feat in the heats. Veterans Sujani Buddhika, Jani Chathurangani and N.C.D. Priyadharshani were the notable
absentees in this meet which was considered a selection trial for the forthcoming Asian Athletics Championships.
Kalinga Kumara in the men’s 400 metres, and Chaminda Wijekoon in a rather new discipline of 5000 metres sparked interest among fans. Wijekoon clocked 14:47.22 seconds to win the men’s 5,000 metres.
Kumara clocked 46.95 seconds to oust Anjana Gunaratne (47.06secs) to the second place. Favourite, Kasun Kalhara Seneviratne finished last. Dilip Kumara and G.M. Jayasekara settled for the second and third positions respectively.
Chandrika Subashini had hardly any fight in the women’s 400 metres but she could return only a time of 55.03 seconds to win. Manjula Kumara (men’s high jump – 2.21 m), S.A. Lamahewa (women’s 10000m- 35:51.06secs), L.A.D. Elensan (men’s hammer throw- 44.55m), Nadeeka Muthunayake (women’s shot putt- 13.37m), Nimali Liyanarachchi (women’s 800m- 2:04.60secs), Indunil Herath (men’s 800 m- 1:51.83secs), N.D. Wickramasinghe (women’s 400m hurdles- 1:01.46secs), Hasith Nirmal (men’s 400m
hurdles- 51.80secs and 110m hurdles-14.40secs), V.A.P. Jayasiri (men’s long jump-7.46m), L.G.A.T. Vinodani (women’s high jump- 1.77m), Vidusha Lakshani (women’s long jump- 5.83m), Lakshan Dayaratne (men’s javelin- 73.78m), S.M. Amarasinghe (women’s hammer throw- 42.35m), Eranga Dulakshi (women’s 1,500m- 4:35.83secs) and K.S. Somawardena (men’s 1,500m- 3:50.38secs) were the winners of their respective events.
