Gayanthika Abeyratne the middle distance athlete will lead the Sri Lanka athetic team for the 25th Asian Athletic Championship which will be held at Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok from July 12- 16.
The 13 member team left yesterday to take part in this event while top national athletes will get exposure before Asian Games, said Sri Lankan team captain Gayanthika Abeyratne in an exclusive interview with the Daily News before their departure.
“I have to compete in both 800m and 1500m individual events and hope to get medals in both events. My first event 1500m is on 12th (first day) while 800m is on 15th. In between there is enough time to adjust to my events. Actually we all have two days training sessions before the meet and that is very important to adjust to the conditions,” said Gayanthika the National record holder of 1500 metres who is captaning Sri Lanka team for the first time.
Sri Lankan youngest athlete Tharushi Karunaratne who will take part in 800m and two relays 4x 400m women’s and 400m mixed relay also has high hopes of these two relays. Tharushi Karunaratne who won 800m gold and 400 silver at last Asian Junior Athletic Championship in South Korea is expected to do her best to win a medal.
Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana the 400m athletes are also in the team while long jumper Sarangi Silva the National record holder hopes to come back strongly and her coach Y.K. Kularatne has more confidence on Sarangi and triple jumper Randi Cooray.
Dhammika Ratnaweera
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