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Dinesh Weerawansa

An international team of athletic officials, representing Asian Amateur Athletic Association (4As) are currently in Sri Lanka to observe Sri Lanka's final preparations for the upcoming Asian Athletic Championships to be worked off in Colombo in August. The delegation is headed by the Asian AAA's Secretary General, Maurice Nicholas.

Secretary of the Asian Athletic Secretariat in Colombo, Prema Pinnawale said Nicholas had expressed confidence in Sri Lanka's preparations. He said, "there is a marked improvement in the local organising work and all preparations should be able to be completed on schedule. He gave clearance to all matters at the venue, except for a few technical ones which could also be easily sorted out," Pinnawale said.

Nicholas was here a couple of months ago at the initial stage of Sri Lanka's preparations and commended the efforts made by Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Johnston Fernando.

Despite local critics raising doubts over the initial delay in relaying the Sugathadasa Stadium track, Nicholas was happy with the local efforts and appreciated the role played by Minister Fernando to keep the meet here.

Nicholas, during his previous visit, pointed out the type of the new track selected by Sri Lanka - Rekottan, is one of the best known brands in the business and had even been a choice at Olympic level.

The venue for the big event - Sugathadasa Outdoor Stadium, is being given a complete new look, investing millions of rupees. The venue should also have a modern electronic screen. The relaying of the new Rekottan track is nearing completion. The visiting Asian athletic officials visited the venue to see the progress made by the local organisers and are reportedly expressed satisfaction.

Impressed by the local organisational skills, the Asian AAA has offered an opportunity of hosting 2003 Asian Grand Prix Series in Colombo. Hyderabad, Bangkok and Manila hosted the three legs of the inaugural Asian Grand Prix 2002. Next year's Asian Grand Prix is set to have Colombo as one of the three host cities, subject to the final confirmation from the 4As.

With Sri Lanka fielding some of the top international class athletes of the calibre of Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tillakaratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Sriyani Kulawansa and Harijana Ratnayake, the hosts are expected to have their richest harvest in the history when the Asian Championship comes to Colombo for the first time.

Next month's Commonwealth Games in Manchester would be an ideal warm up for the Lankan athletes before they search for gold in Colombo in August. The first local selection trial was held at Sports Ministry grounds last weekend and the 2002 Sri Lanka national championship would be the final trial to pick the Lankan team. Hosts Sri Lanka will be fielding its largest ever team in the Asian athletic championship history.

The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) (Print media sponsor) and Dialog GSM (Sri Lanka team sponsor and the official web hoster) are two of the six Gold sponsors of the event.

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