- Stalwart Pinnawela to be feted on Sunday
Top Sri Lankan athletes will get a window to qualify for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September, while improving their current standards, when the 103rd National Athletics Championships gets underway at Diyagama on Saturday (2).
The prestigious World Athletics Championships is scheduled to be held in Japan from 13-21 September this year, and so far the only Sri Lankan elite athlete to have secured direct qualification for the upcoming event is javelin thrower Sumedha Ranasinghe.
He had recorded a distance of 85.78 meters at Diyagama last March, while two other javelin throwers namely Rumesh Tharanga and Dilhani Lekamge, have also reached the threshold of qualification for Japan, and for the duo an improved showing at Diyagama will be crucial.
Two other elite athletes who will be in action at the two-day meet will be sprinters Olympian Aruna Darshana and Kalinga Kumarage, as they too will strive hard to amass ranking points and be in with a shout for the World Athletics Championships next month.
Besides them, budding athletes Kalhara Idupa, Sadev Rajakaruna and Omel Shashintha will also need watching at the Diyagama event, as a fine blend of experience and youth will be on show for spectators at the weekend.
Hence the National Athletics Championships which is set to kick off tomorrow, will provide elite local athletes who have not been able to obtain direct qualification for the World Championships, to improve their points system in local meets introduced by World Athletics (WA), and be in the running for a place at the upcoming global event.
According to Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) sources, 100 points will be accorded to athletes for their victories in their respective disciplines at the National Athletics Championships.
They added that World Athletics have extended the period up to 31 August to secure recommendations for the Tokyo Games, for athletes from all nations.
Meanwhile SA sources added that they will also be using the National Athletics Championships, as a yardstick for selections for the national team, which is scheduled to compete at the South Asian Senior Athletics Championships in Ranchi, India in November.
The said championship which was originally due to start last May, was postponed following heightened cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.
SLA sources also revealed that they will also be felicitating a stalwart of local athletics and a long-serving former Secretary of the sport’s domestic governing body-Prema Pinnawala, during the awards presentation on Sunday (3) afternoon.
Pinnawala, who is also the current head of the Kegalle District Athletics Association, has been involved in the local athletics administration since 1969.
He had also served as the General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) from 1984 to 1997 having also pioneered the establishment of the South Asian Games as a veteran sports administrator.
He is hailed as the senior most athletics official in the country, with SLA planning to fete him on his six-decade long service to the sport.