[vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Quarter-miler Navishka Sandeesh anchored the Sri Lanka relay team to Silver with another mesmerizing 400m lap, while hurdler Amesha Hettiarachchi clinched Bronze, as Sri Lanka finished with two Silvers and a Bronze at the 3rd Asian Youth Athletics Championship concluded in Hong Kong on Sunday (17th) .
Sri Lanka had high hopes of winning that elusive Gold medal in the boys medley relay after clocking the better time in the two heats, but in the final sprinter Milinda Perera could not keep up with the rest in the 200m, and was fifth when he handed over the baton to Isuru Abeywardene who ran the 300m lap. Isuru, who missed out from 400m final, ran his heart out in the 300m closing the gap and passed the baton in 4th place to Navishka, who then flew through the 400m and overtook the Chinese, Chinese Taipei as well as host Hong Kong runners during the final stretch to finish second clocking 01 minute 55.04 seconds, only behind India who won the Gold clocking 1 minute 54.04 seconds.
Earlier, hurdler Amesha Hettiarachchi clocked 01 minute 01.47 seconds in the 400m hurdle to win a Bronze medal, which was the only medal won by girls in the Sri Lanka team. Hailing from Viharamahadevi Girls College Kandy and trained by coach S.P. Vithana, Amesha was a prime medal prospect for Sri Lanka going into the Championship, but the Gold and Silver medals went to Arisa Weruwanarak of Thailand (01: 00.52 sec) and Jui Yang of China (01:00.82 sec) who registered faster times.
In other events of the day, Gateway College sprinter Sadeepa Henderson ran an impressive 200m from lane one but finished fifth with a personal best of 24.98 seconds in the final. An hour later she again ran a good 200m lap in the girls medley relay, but Sri Lanka only managed to finish fifth in the event.
Both Milinda and Sadeepa had to run the 200m event thrice during the day with a gap of an hour each, as the medley relay heats, 200m final and medley relay final were worked off during the day within two and a half hours.
In the 800m, team captain Shanika Lakshani from Holy Cross Convent Gampaha finished fourth with a time of 2 minutes 14.25 seconds. China’s Xinyu won the Gold medal with a championship record of 2 minutes 09.03 seconds, India’s Pooja won Silver (02.9.32 sec) and Ueda Maki of Japan (2:09.76) the Bronze. Ironically India’s Priscilla Daniel, who shattered the championship record in the heats, fell down during the last 30 meters after leading the race.
High Jumper Ishara Pallegama finished fifth clearing 1.65m, while javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga threw 61.62m to finish sixth in the final.
On day two, Navishka clocked his personal best of 48.26 seconds to win the Silver medal of the Boys’ 400m event.
Even though Sri Lanka managed to win three medals in a tough competition, only Navishka and Sadeepa achieved their personal best during the championship, and many athletes did not perform as expected.
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