A contingent of 24 young athletes has been selected to represent Sri Lanka at the 17th Asian Junior Athletic Championship that will be held in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam from 02nd to 06th June 2016.
Selections have been done by The Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL), taking the performances by athletes at the recently concluded Junior nationals event. However Youth commonwealth game Silver medalist high jumper Dhammika Ranatunga has also been included in the tour group despite him not taking part in the recently concluded meet as he is currently training in Doha, Qatar.
Notable exclusions were the girls 4X100 & the 4X400 relay teams as they were not considered for selection due to poor performances in their respective events. Boys 4X100 and 4X100 relay teams together with the five athletes who have already qualified for the IAAF World Junior Championships have been named in the tour group.
Record Breakers – Junior National Athletic Championship 2016
In an encouraging move, a few athletes who are still in the under 18 category have been selected with an eye on the future as some of them have performed exceptionally well achieving bench marks set for the U20 category already.
For the first time in history Sri Lanka will be fielding a women’s pole vaulter for an international tournament outside the country. Harshani Dharmarathne the young pole vaulter who demolished the national record in the recently concluded Junior Nationals will go down the history books as the first female pole vaulter to represent Sri Lanka outside the country.
Full team that will take part in the 17th Asian Junior Athletic Championship
Boys – Akila Ravishanka (110M Hurdles), Uditha Chandrasena (400M Hurdles), Greshan Dhananjaya (Triple jump, Long Jump), Chamal Kumarasiri (Triple Jump), Dhammika Ranatunga (High Jump), Mithun Mihiranga(800M), Chamika Weerawardane (400M), K.L Samarasinghe (400M), Aruna Dharshana (400M), D.S Lakshan (400M),Tharusha Dhananjaya (400M), Arosh Kariyawasam (100M), Shenal Ratwatte (100M),Sahan Rajapakse (100M), Jith Silva (100M), Ishan Kavinda (100M), Supuna Priyanjana (10,000M)
Girls – Omaya Udayangani (400M), Harshani Dharmaratne (Pole Vault), Harshani Balasooriya (Long jump, Triple jump), N.K Basnayake (3000M Steeple chase), C.D Pallewatte (100M, 200M), Shermila Jaan(100M,200M),Dilshi Kumarasinghe (800M)
