Lankan Athletes to compete in 5 International Meets in 2017: AASL
Lionel Samarajeewa, a clear choice in long distance races
The Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) has decided to send Athletes to 5 international Meets this year. The 5 Meets are The Brunei Open Athletics Championships on March 18, 19, the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on March 26 in Kampala, Uganda, the Philippine Open Athletics Championships on March 30, 31 and April 1,The Asian Grand Prix – Three Legs on April 24 ( Jiaxing, China). 2nd Leg on April 27 ( Jiaxing, China), 3rd Leg on April 30 in Chinese Taipei and the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) from June 1-4 in Ranchi, India.
The AASL has decided to send 4 athletes each to Brunei and the Philippines. The names of 15 Athletes have been forwarded to the Asian Athletics Association, who will pick the Athletes for the events.
Two Athletes have qualified for the Uganda World Cross Country championships. They are Lionel Samarajeeva and Gayanthika Abeyratne. These two qualified at the National Cross Country Championships held in Nuwara Eliya, where they won the Men’s and Women’s events respectively.
The most important event for Sri Lanka (SL) is the 22nd AAC, to which SL has been asked to send 8 Athletes, but the AASL hopes to send a contingent of at least 20 Athletes.
The first selection trial for this will be on April 8, 9 at the Diyagama Mahinda Rajapaksa Sports Complex. The final selection will be in the first week of May.
In the history of the AAC, SL has won 18 Gold. This time SL hopes to pocket 4 Golds. At the 2000 Jakarta AAC, SL won 4 Golds. The first Gold was won in 1995 in Jakarta, where SL bagged 2 Golds. In 1998, at Fukoka (Japan), SL won 2 Gold.
In 2002, in Colombo, SL won 3 Golds. In 2003, in Manila, SL won 1 Gold. In 2005, in Incheon, SL won 2 Golds. In 2007, in Amman, SLwon 3 Golds and in 2009, in Guangzhou, SL won only 1 Gold.
In 2015, SL won a Bronze through Nimali Liyanarachchi in the 800 metres.