The 56th Junior national championship commenced today(23rd) at the newly renovated Sugathadasa stadium as the first meet to be hosted at the refurbished venue.
The premier competition for the junior athletes of the country, the Junior national championship features athletes from 4 age groups – Under 16,18,20 and 23 in both Boys and Girls categories. This year there will be a special interest in the Under 20 categories as the this will also work as a qualifier for the upcoming Junior South Asian Athletic Championship which will be hosted in Sri Lanka on the 05th & 6th May. The Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) is aiming at fielding 3 athletes in each event depending on the performance of the athletes at the junior nationals.
8 meet records and a national record on the opening day
Vaulting queen, Anitha Jeyaram of Thelippili welcomed the new season the way she knows best by renewing her own national record competing in the Girl’s U23 pole vault event. Anitha cleared 3.55m to better her own previous record of 3.48m that she achieved at the national sports festival in Matara last year. The previous meet record which was 3.40m was also by her which was established at the last year’s junior national competition. The exemplary vaulter has breathed new life to the event and will be hoping for a similar performance in the weekend at the first national trial for the upcoming Asian Games.
4 new meet records were established in the morning session, all in field events.
The limelight of the morning session was however stolen by the former Maristonian High jumper Ushan Thiwanka who laid claimed to the junior national record in the High jump clearing a height of 2.20m surging past the previous record of 2.15m. This is the third highest jump recorded by a Sri Lankan Jumper with Manjula Kumara, Sri Lanka’s high jumping sensation, holding the national record for his 2.27m which was established 14 years ago while the second-best jump was through Nalin Priyantha who had cleared 2.21m. Thiwanka was recently picked in the Sri Lankan team for the Thailand Open Championship and justified his selection with his record breaking jump today. He will be looking to better his new personal best of 2.20m achieved today in Thailand. Roshan Dannika of Sri Lanka Army was placed second with a jump of 2.15m and managed to equal the previous meet record while P.K.V Ratnayake of Kegalle DAA was placed third clearing a height of 2.00m.
In the Under 16 boys’ long jump, Peterite Hirusha Heshan laid claim to a new meet record with a 7.09m jump which won him gold in the event. Bishopian Ovini Chandrasekara establish a new meet record in the Girls’ under 16 Putt Shot event with a throw of 11.91m and was in a league of her own compared to the other competitors. In the Boyss Under 16 Discus throw Peterite Rumesh Tharanga came out with a throw of 55.34m to establish a new meet record in the event.
The evening session of the Junior National Championship saw the finals of 800m of all age groups in both Boys’ and Girls’ categories while the Girls’ Under 23 200m final and the Boys’ under 23 10000m final, also the heats of the Boy’s & Girl’s 200m final heats were also concluded today with the finals to be conducted tomorrow.
In the Under 20 Boy’s 200m heats, S Arun Dharshan of Weera Kappetipola MV Akurambada created a new meet record clocking a time of 21.64secs blitzing through the qualification round. He bettered the previous meet record off 21.73secs.
In the Girl’s Under 20 800m final Dilshi Kumarasinghe of Walawa central dominated the race as she managed to better the time she laid claim to during the heats, Dilishi ran an impressive 2:09.13 and managed to better the previous record of 2:12.33 by A N Sanjeewani established in 2004.
N Dakshitha of J/ Chavakachcheri Hindu College managed to establish a new meet record in the U 18 Girl’s pole vault with a jump of 3.02m. She dethroned C Herina of Mahajana College Telippii who held the previous record of 3.01m, Herina had to be satisfied with a second-place finish as she only managed to clear 2.90m. Aushadhi Wickramasekara of Newstead College Negombo was placed third with a jump of 2.70m.
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Results – Day 01 Final Results
 at the newly renovated Sugathadasa stadium as the first meet to be hosted at the refurbished venue.){kind=link}