Sri Lanka’s hope for a medal at the Asian Games comes by way of Sarangi Silva the long jumper who set a new Sri Lanka record on the final day of the athletic trials held at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The 26-year-old from Army Sports Club leapt 6.65 metres which is good enough to win a medal, according to World Athletics statistics. In fact, her achievement is supposed to be better than the gold medal winning distance of the last three editions of the Asian Games.
The last 22 years saw the Asian Games women’s long jump won only once with a distance of over 6.65m. But in 2006 Japanese Kumiko Ikeda won the gold medal with a leap of 6.81m. The silver medalist achieved a distance of 6.52m which was by India’s Anju Bobby George.
Sarangi who trains under Y.K. Kularathne showed gradual improvement over the years. She leapt 6.38m to win the gold medal at the South Asian Games in 2019.
She trained in Qatar under a Polish coach in 2021 by courtesy of a National Olympic Committee scholarship. She leapt 6.44m during a competition in Istanbul before returning home later that year to set a new Sri Lankan record of 6.48m.
She leapt 6.53m in her first attempt last Saturday (12) to set a new Sri Lanka record. She had other ideas about celebrating and went on to break that record again with a distance of 6.65m.
“My target since 2019 was to establish a new Sri Lanka record. I have been clearing 6.60m during training and wanted to achieve this during a competition. My prime target is to win a medal at this year’s Asian Games and Commonwealth Games,” said Sarangi.
Another female athlete who came within medal winning range was Gayanthika Abeyrathne who set a record in the 1500m event clocking 4:09.12 secs. Her timing in the event was 4:11.45 secs to win last year. Sri Lanka can end the Asian Games medal drought since 2006 if these two athletes come up with their best attempts in China later this year.
Long jumper Hirusha Abeysekara, hurdler Kaveesha Bandara, hurdler Dhanuka Darshana and triple jumper Pasindu Malshan are the four junior athletes who shone at the trials.
Abeysekara set a new Sri Lanka junior long jump record with a leap of 7.67m. Peterite Hirusha Abeysekara who trains under Sunil and Badra Gunawardena, made certain it won’t be a repeat of last year and achieved direct qualification this year.
The World Junior Athletics Championship is to be held in Cali, Colombia later this year.
Kaveesha Bandara from Royal College qualified in the 110m hurdles event when he returned a time of 14.02 seconds to win the event.
Dhanuka Darshana from Ambagamuwa CC is another hurdler to qualify when he clocked 52.21 second in the 400m hurdles final. The qualifying time given was 53.20 seconds.
Pasindu Malshan from St. Joseph’s College is the other athlete to qualify in the triple jump event. He leapt 15.68m to beat the qualifying mark of 15.55m. He trains under former national jumper Nalin Rathnasiri.