Shivanthi pleads for more facilities

Published : 11:56 am  June 13, 2012 |  One comment  |     |   (7)  |  

Shivanthi Ratnayake, the captain of Sri Lanka Youth Athletic Team, says that the junior athletes in Sri Lanka need more facilities to bring more medals.

Ratnayake, who won the first gold medal for the country at Asian Junior Athletics Championships, concluded on Tuesday, said that she was proud of their medal winning team as it helped the country to prove that they can make things happen. She also added that she received the fullest co-operation from the other three members to achieve this success.

All four members of the silver medal winning team said that they have sacrificed a lot to maintain this high standard and hope to continue to perform much better to bring glory to motherland in the future.

"We need the support of all concerned authorities as we all are under many hardships while doing our practices with lesser facilities. This has to be looked very seriously as it will be of great importance to all up-coming athletes" said Sri Lanka youth Athletic captain

Sri Lanka women Junior relay team for the 15th Asian Junior Athletic Championship brought in another silver medal to make its medal tally to six. Kazakhstan team won the race easily.

The comprising of team captain Shivanthi Maduwanthi, Nadeesha Henderson, Pavithra Hansani and Subodhani Kanchana Kumari made the host country proud by achieving this as Sri Lanka relay teams have maintained supremacy in this particular event in the Asian region for few decades.

All coaches were present in front of the media who also supported the ideas expressed by the athletes. Upali Wijesinghe the coach of the Pavithra Hansani who is a Student of Gurukula Vidyayalaya said that she was trained under very trying conditions.

The facilities available in school for training are not sufficient but with the dedication and perseverance of the student and our efforts saw this success.  He further added that he was proud of  his young athlete, though she was is not with big looking body frame she had the power hold on to any challenge that was her success.

Sri Lankans who were looking forward to witness another great 4X400 relay medal winning run from our young athletes was dashed when the quartet failed to achieve success in this event falling to fourth slot with Japan, Saudi Arabia and India in front. This was an event all were expecting a medal as this particular event has been dominated by us for almost four decades in the Asian region.

Director General of Department of Sports Development Ranjani Jayakody, addressing the media said that the time has come for us to look in a very serious way to improve our standards and to maintain the success we gained from this 15th Asian Junior Athletic Championship.

These young athletes have shown the world that are preparing for the future. This our future we have to nurture them top athletes and reach global level to bring glory not only to then but to the whole country.

Answering a question, she said that steps will be taken to upgrade the standards of coaches who taken great pains in producing top class young athletes under trying condition.

"It's an achievement we all should appreciate" Mrs. Jayakody said.

The coaches from remote places with lesser qualifications have done a lot to produce great athletes in the past. These athletes have gone past the previous record of four medals won at the 1994 Asian Junior Athletic Championships.

RESULTS

1000M Race Walk (Men)

1. Kuldeep (India) 45:01.43 secs
2. MatsunagaDaisuke (JPN) 45: 03/03 secs
3. Zhang Zhi (CHN) 45: 05.27 secs 

Discus Throw (women)

1. Insaeng Subenrat (THA) 54/.08m
2. Dhilon Navjeet Kaur (IND) 44. 78m
3. Jeong Yelim (KOR) 41.32m

Triple Jump (Women)

1. Chen Mudan (CHN) 13.67m
2. Abuova Dilyana (KAZ) 13.35m
3. Hung Pei-Ning (TPE) 13.01

400m Hurdles (Men)

1. Saleh Ibrahim (KSA) 51.20 secs
2. Nagano Yuichi (JPN) 51.32 secs
3. Kumar Durgesh (IND) 51.38 secs

400m Hurdles (Women)

1. Neguyen Thi Huyen (VIE) 59.92 secs
2. Zaiko Marina (KAZ) 1:00.00secs
3. Lopei-Lin (TPE) 1:01.45 secs

200m (Men)

1. Ze Zennye (CHN)21.15 secs
2. Kimura Kenta (JPN) 21.53 secs
3. Taafitan Hassan (IRI) 21.60 secs

200m (Women)

1. Lin Huijin (CHN) 24.69 secs
2. Andryeva Okga (KAZ) 25.05 secs
3. Perira Shanti Veronica (SIN) 25 .09

Discus Throw (Men)

1. Mojtaba Shabaneh(IRI) 58.79m
2. Arjun (IND) 56.61m
3. Shinjabilon Behnam (IRI) 55.72m

800m (Women)

1. Wu Li min (CHN) 2: 07.13 secs
2. Yamamoyo Mizuki (JPN) 2: 08.67 secs
3. Yurchenko Tatyana (kaz)2:09.60

800m (Men)

1. Teng Haining (CHN) 1:46.56 secs
2. Driouch Hamza (QAT) 1:46.72 secs
3. Kozumz Shota(JPN) 1: 49. 37 SECS

3000m (Women)

1. Takayama Kotomi (JPN) 9:27.79 secs
2. Kim hyr Gyeeg (PRK) 9:29.18 secs
3. Wu Yu Feng (CHN) 9:31.22

5000m (Men)

1. Pal Rahul Kumar (IND) 14: 33.80 secs
2. Murayama Kota (JPN) 14; 33.67
3. Nakatani Leisuke (JPN) 14; 58.23

4X400 Relay (Women)

1. Kazakhstan
2. Sri Lanka
3. India, Thailand,
4. Hong Kong
5. Sigapore

4X400 Relay (Men)

1. Japan
2. Saudi Arabia
3. India
4. Sri Lanka
5. Hong Kong
6. Singapore
7. Kazkhstan

Heptathlon (Women)

1. Hembrun Purnima (IND) 4210 points
2. Sunisa Khotseemueang (THA) 4162 points
3. Nadezhda Kimos ( KAZ) 3814 points

 (By B. R. Perera)