Airwoman Chandrika Rasnayake clocked a seasonal best 52.67 seconds and was placed fourth in the 400m women’s semi-finals in the 20th Commonwealth Games being held at Glasgow, Scotland.
This is her third best time in her career and it gave plenty of assurance of her current form and medal hopes for the forthcoming Asian Games as her time is within the medal range of the women’s 400m event.
In fact, Rasnayake’s time of 52.67 seconds is right up there within medal range of the Asian Games when compared to her last two performances at the Asian Games.
In 2010, Asami Chiba of Japan clocked 52.68 seconds for the silver medal while Marina Maslyonko of Kazakhstan clocked 52.70 seconds for the bronze medal.
In the 2006 edition, Asami Tanno of Japan clocked 53.07 seconds for the bronze medal.
Rasnayake 27, hailing from Madampe Senanayake Central College had a personal best of 52.36 seconds six years ago, where she went through a lean period but came back strongly last year to clock another sub 53 second performance after many years in Malaysia last year which provided a glimpse of her prowess.
The determined athlete who is training under veteran sprint coaches Sunil and Badra Gunawardane had good starts to the season by winning double gold medals in the Thailand open Championship, while increasing her hopes for a great show in the Asian Games. “The Asian Games is my main target. I was down with dengue after last year’s Asian Grand Prix and came back strongly to clock a sub 54 seconds at the Malaysian Open later that year and I hope I can improve in the future and go beyond my personal best this year,” predicted Rasnayake after her success at the Thailand Open.
Rasnayake who already has an Asian Championship medal to her credit is one of Sri Lanka’s best bets for the Asian Games where she is determined to produce her best performance.
