Six years after posting her personal best in her pet event 400m (52.36 secs) Chandrika Subashini Rasnayake is on track again aiming to do below that range hoping for a medal at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, which is her third Asian Games. Rasnayake’s sub 53 second performance could secure her a silver medal, compared to her medal winning times in the previous two Asian Games.
“This is my third Asian Games having participated in the first one at the age of 19. This year I will be using all my experiences to aim for a medal,” said Rasnayake prior to her competition which will start tomorrow at the Asiad Main Stadium.
Except at the Busan Asian Games in 2002 the 400 metres race was the fastest with Damayanthi Dharsha establishing a record time of 51.13 seconds while the silver and bronze medals were decided with performances of between 52.10 secs and 53 seconds, and Rasnayake is well within the medal range.
After her impressive run in 2008 many predicted that Rasnayake will be the one who can go beyond Dharsha’s record when she was only 21 years by then, but due to a number of reasons, held back her progress.
She was at her peak last year aiming for an Asian Championship medal, but she could not achieve it as she had suffered from Dengue a few months before that event.
Rasnayake is an extremely unfortunate athlete where she tends to get sick before a major competition.
Rasnayake has run the finals at the last two Asian Games in the 400m event and went closest for a medal in 2010.
“Last time I had a real chance as I was within range for a medal until the 350m mark but couldn’t hold on to the end. But with the experience I have gathered I hope for the best this year,” said Rasnayake.
Rasnayake who has been coming back from bad patches has won a number of medals in the Asian Grand Prix, Asian Championship, two Gold medals in both 200m and 400m at the South Asian Games and a Bronze medal in the World Military Game. But a win in the Asian Games will give her the best medal of her life which will be a fitting value for her mixed fortunes.
