Lankan athletes fail in Bangkok

Published : 9:36 am  May 10, 2012 |  No comments so far  |     |   (8)  |  

Sri Lankan athletes competing in stage one of the Asian Grand Prix, failed to live up to expectations. Four of them placed third in their respective events held in Bangkok, Thailand.

According to the coach Sunil Gunawardane, they are expected to put up a better show in the next two rounds which too will be staged in Bangkok.

Christina Merryl Sonali, who is expecting an Olympic berth in the 400m hurdles, finished the event with a time of 58.20 secs. This event was won by Uzbekistan’s Azanova Natalia who clocked 57.20 secs.

Prasanna Amarasekere who is one of the Medal hopes for Sri Lanka in the 400m clocked only 47.52 secs. while the winner in this event was Iran’s Hayemzan Sajaad.

In the women’s Chandrika Subhashini came third in the 400m clocking 53.57secs while Shehan Ambeypitiya clocked 10.52 secs. as he too finished third in 100 meter dash.

Sri Lanka’s javelin thrower W Lakshan Dayaratne could muster only adistance of 67.00m for which he was placed seventh. Shahan Ambeypitiya who is training in Jamaica arrived for the meet from Jamaica. Manjula Kumara the National Champion in the high jump too failed to reach the expected results and was placed third after clearing a height of 2.19 meters.

Prasanna Amarasekere said that this is his first international appearance for the year. He also added that he is having problems with an ankle injury and hop that it come back to normal in the near future.

The winner of each event is awarded US dollars 1000 while the second and third placed athletes getting 750 and 500 dollars respectively. Already the Lankans have bagged a sum of 2500 dollars.

(By Namal Pathirage)