- Susanthika last to win medal in 2007
The three-member Sri Lankan team of elite athletes who are due to compete at the 20th World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, Japan from 13-21 September, left the country last night (9), seeking its first medal in one-and-a-half decades, in its history.
The local contingent consists of men’s javelin throwers Rumesh Tharanga, Sumedha Ranasinghe and women’s 400 m sprinter Nadeesha Ramanayake, respectively.
Both Tharanga and Ranasinghe who are placed seventh and 10th in world rankings for men’s javelin throwers directly qualified for the event starting this Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ramanayake in view of her impressive showings in domestic and regional meets, had managed to book her flight to Japan via the ‘Universality’ (previously known as Wildcard) system introduced by World Athletics (WA).
Ace javelin thrower Tharanga had recorded a distance of 86.50 m in a recent event held in India, easily surpassing the required distance of 85.50 m stipulated by the WA to qualify for Tokyo.
His colleague Ranasinghe had registered a distance of 85.78 during the National Athletics Trials recently, with both becoming the first two local elite athletes in history, to qualify directly for the forthcoming eight-day event.
Ramanayake of Sri Lanka Army, who is set to make her debut in the Championship being the sole female athlete from her country, had clinched the Asian gold medal in the 400m with a time of 52.61. apart from winning gold in both the women’s 400m relay and mixed relay events.
She is also the first Lankan female elite athlete to compete at the World Athletics Championships since Chandrika Rasnayake in the 400 m at the Berlin event in 2009.
The last time Sri Lanka had clinched any medal in the event’s history was during the edition held in Osaka 18 years ago when now-retired sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe returned home with bronze in the women’s 200 m.
Sri Lanka has contested at the World Athletics Championships since its inception in 1983 and Jayasinghe has had the honour of winning her country’s only two medals in history the other being silver in the women’s 200 m during the edition held in Athens, Greece back in 1997.