The two-day 30th Mercantile Athletic Championship, which got underway at the Sugathadasa Stadium, saw nine new records being established from over 100 finals in different age groups that were held on day one yesterday. The 30th Mercantile Athletic Championship, conducted by the Mercantile Athlete Associationand sponsored by Ritzbury, is being contested by 1823 athletes from [...]

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Nine new records established on day one

30th Mercantile Athletic Championship
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The two-day 30th Mercantile Athletic Championship, which got underway at the Sugathadasa Stadium, saw nine new records being established from over 100 finals in different age groups that were held on day one yesterday.

C.S. Weerasinghe, who won the Over 35 Men’s long jump event in action. - Pix by Amila Gamage

The 30th Mercantile Athletic Championship, conducted by the Mercantile Athlete Associationand sponsored by Ritzbury, is being contested by 1823 athletes from 40 companies from the mercantile sector which comprises 1204 in the men and 619 in the women categories. For the first time in the history of the championship, an overseas team comprising of 30 athletes from India and five from Nigeria are also participating.

Four records each in the men’s and women’s categories were eclipsed while three men athletes bettered the previous record in three events and one record was equalled in the women’s category.

In the men’s category three of the records came in the track events with the others in the field events and in the women’s category one record was eclipsed in the track and the other three in the field events.

Women’s Over 35 1500metres final in progress

The three track records in the men’s category were in the 400m hurdles Over 40 group where India’s Prasanna Krishnan set a new time of 1:11.6 seconds. Y.M.R. Weerasekera of Sri Lanka Telecom finished with a new record of 4:49.4seconds in the 1500m Over 35 age group while R.A.D.G.R. Krishan of SriLankan Airlines set a record of 59.1seconds in the 400m Over 45 age group.

The field event record was in the novices discuss throw event where Sajith Munasinghe of Sampath Bank hurled a throw of 34.37 metres.

The track record in the women’s category was in Over 45 1500m event where K.W.P. Renuka of Sri Lanka Telecom passed the winning post with a new timing of 7:06.2seconds.

The three field records in the women’s category came in the Over 45 high jump event with M.D.P.M. Sriyalatha of MAS Holdings leaping to a new record of 1.09metres in the Over 40 group while Sanjeewani Peiris of Sampath Bank hurled the shot putt a record distance of 7.70metres in the Over 40 group.

Shashika Samarasinghe of Hatton National Bank threw the javelin for a new record of 27.78metres in the Over 30 group. Nayomika Jayatileke of Janashakthi Insurance equalled her own record of 1:05.9seconds in the 400m which is in the championship category.
SriLankan Airlines are the defending champions while MAS Holdings finished second last year and the battle for the championship is going to be a clash between the two mentioned teams.

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