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by DINESH WEERAWANSA

Its 43 days to go for the 43-nation Asian Athletic Championships to be held in Colombo in August. This is the eighth in a series of articles in the ANCL English language, which leads the largest ever sporting event to be hosted by Sri Lanka. 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.

Hosts Sri Lanka will field a strong 105-member team for the 14th Asian Athletic championships to be worked off in Colombo in August. This would be the largest ever contingent to be fielded by Sri Lanka in the championship history.

Sri Lanka team will be one of the strongest teams in the 43-nation tournament. Presence of Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, Asian Games double gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sriyani Kulawansa, Asian Games gold medallist Sugath Tillakaratne and Asian Championship double gold medallist Rohan Pradeep Kumara should help Sri Lanka to come out with their best ever performance at the Asian Championship history.

Besides the individual events, Sri Lanka could also look forward to women's 4 x 100m and men's 4 x 400m relays, the events in which they won gold medals at the last Asian Championships in Indonesia. Darsha is set to compete in both 400m and 200m, the two events she won gold medals at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Tillakaratne too is expected to compete in the men's category of the same events, having won 200m bronze and 400m gold at the Bangkok Games four years ago.

But the best bet from Sri Lanka would undoubtedly be Sydney Olympics 200m bronze medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, who will look forward to a golden double in 100m and 200m. She is rated one of the best 200m women sprinters in the world and was ranked No.3 in the world. Young Pradeep Kumara is out for another sensational performance. Besides the big names in the Lankan team with a proven track record, there are several promising athletes who could spring a few surprises for the hosts.

According to the Asian Amateur Athletic Association Secretary General, Maurice Nicholas, who was in Colombo last week on a fact finding mission, all top Asian athletes will be competing in Colombo. Though the participating teams may not have big numbers, they would be strong sides with the cream of Asian athletes.

For the Asian teams including Sri Lanka, which will be competing in next month's Commonwealth Games, it would be an ideal warm-up before the Colombo Asian Championships. Mixing with some of the top Asian, Australian and European athletes before the Asian Championship would be a great chance for the Commonwealth Asian teams.

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