St. Joseph’s Balika, Kegalle sprinter Rumeshika Ratnayake and men’s 1,500 metres record holder Chaminda Wijekoon are among six new athletes included in the Sri Lanka team for the forthcoming Asian Athletics Championships.
Sprinter Ratnayake, 1,500 metres runner K.S. Somawardena, Wijekoon and relay team members Shehan Ambepitiya, Mohamed Rajaskhan and M.I.M. Ashrof are the new additions after successfully appealing for their inclusion.
18-year-old Ratnayake clocked 11.80 seconds to win the women’s 100 metres at the recently held trials and Wijekoon impressed in a new discipline of 5,000 metres (14:47.22secs), while Soawardena clocked 3:50.38 secs to win the men’s 1,500m.
However they had not been in the list the selectors forwarded to the sports ministry approval.
They had been included in the team following appeals made on behalf of them.
Inclusion of Ratnayake means that there are three school athletes in the team with sprinter Himasha Eshan (Kalutara Vidyalaya- 100m and 4x100m) and triple jumper Vidusha Lakshani (Newstead Girls School, Negombo) being the others.
Wijekoon is returning to international competitions after a lapse of some two years.
Teams
Men’s
Manjula Kumara (high jump), Himasha Eshan (100m, 4x100m) Suranjaya de Silva (200m, 4x100m), Sanjaya Jayasinghe (triple jump), Indunil Herath (800m), Lakshan Dayaratne (Javelin), Kalinga Kumara (400m, 4x400m), Anjana Gunaratne (4x400m), Dilip Ruwan (4x400m), Chanaka Jayasekara (4x400m), Danushka Karunaratne (4x400m), K.S. Somawardena (1,500m), Chaminda Wijekoon (5,000m), Mohamed Ashrof (4x100m), Shehan Ambepitiya (4x100m), Mohamed Rajaskhan (4x100m).
Women’s
Nadeeka Lakmali (Javelin), Vidusha Lakshani (Triple jump), Nimali Liyanarachchi (800m), T.G.N.D. Wickramasinghe (400m hurdles), Gayanthika Abeyratne (800m), Chandrika Subashini (400m), Rumeshika Ratnayake (100m).
Officials: Badra Gunawardena (Manager cum Coach), Chaminda Perera (Coach), S.N. Abeysekara (coach), Philip Ranjith (Coach), Pradeep Nishantha (Coach), Dr. Dhammika Senanayake (Doctor on tour), Anura Ranjith (Physio) and Nimal Jayaratne (Physio).
