Sports - Temp

In a battle of the women’s 200m final of the 84th National Athletic Championship which was expected to be a cliffhanger between Sri Lanka’s ace women sprinters Susanthika Jayasinghe who was battling her arch rival Damayanthi Darsha turned out to be a one sided affair. Susanthika running in the colours of the Lanka Lion SC had things her own to come out as the winner with a timing of 23.48 seconds. However this time was way behind her own best of 22.28 seconds set at the Sydney Olympics in 2002 and the existing national record of 23.16 which also stands to her name.

Her rival Damayanthi representing the Track Masters SC was only able to return a poor timing of 24.49 seconds with H.P.S. Buddika of Air Force finishing third with a timing of 24.71.

This being the final trial for the forthcoming South Asian Games the competition was expected to be very stiff. But it was disheartening to see that only three competitors running in the women’s 200m final.

There was one record set yesterday that came in the women’s high jump event when Army’s Tharanga Vinodani eclipsed the national record of 1.71 set by Kurunegala DCA’s R.K.P. Maduwanthi in 2003 with a jump of 1.74m.

The biggest surprise of the day’s proceedings was the elimination of the men’s 200m record holder Prasanna Amarasekera who was pushed to the third slot with S.M. Weerasooriya of Navy winning the race with a timing of 21.19 seconds and 400 m specialist Rohan Pradeep Kumara coming in second. Rohan Pradeep Kumara went on to take the first place in the first heat of the 400m while former champion Sugath Tillekeratne who is making a come back came second in the second heat of the same event.