High Jumper Dammika Ranathunga advanced to the finals as he jumped 2:08 m in the qualifying round of the 9th IAAF World Youth championship continued at Cali Colombia yesterday.
Ranathunga started jumping at 2:00 m and took two attempts each to clear 2.00m, 2.04m and 2.08m, where he qualified for the finals after finishing fourth in the qualifying round (heat A) and 8th place overall.
Ranathunga jumped 2:12m for his Silver medal at the Asian Youth Championship in May, and will be eyeing to better his performance during the final which will start at 4:35 a.m. local time tomorrow (19th).
Meanwhile, hurdler Dharshana Rajapaksha disappointed with a 53.95 seconds performance where he finished 7th in heat 3. Rajapaksha clocked his personal best 52.87 seconds at the Asian Youth Championship to win Silver but couldn’t match that performance again as he was beaten by Uditha Chandrasena (who finished 4th at the Asian Youth Championship) during the Junior Nationals, and did not take part in the John Tarbat Championship.
