|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 11 September 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Sports | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Kulawansa leads team to Asian Championships by Dinesh Weerawansa Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sriyani Kulawansa-Fonseka has been appointed to captain the 54-member Sri Lanka team for the forthcoming 15th Asian Athletic Championships to be worked off in the Philippines later this month. Vice President of the AASL, N.A.T. Jayasinghe will be the Manager. Kulawansa has been appointed to takeover the captaincy of the Sri Lanka athletic team after Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe was forced to pull out of the Asian Championship after suffering a hamstring injury during last month's IAAF World Championships in France. Sri Lanka team will leave for the Philippines on Thursday (18). The 43-nation 15th Asian Athletic Championship to be worked off in Manila from September 21 to 24 in Manila, is set to be the last major international meet for Kulawansa, who is expected to hang her spikes by the end of this year. Kulawansa, who came into the limelight as a champion high jumper at the 1987 Mahaweli Games in Bakamuna, is one of the best athletes that Sri Lanka has ever produced, winning medals at Commonwealth, Asian Championship and SAF Games for over 12 years in women's 100m hurdles. Manila is a familiar venue the veteran Lankan woman hurdler who bagged women's 100m silver when the Philippines last hosted the Asian Championships in 1993. Kulawansa's best moments in an exemplary track career were in 1995 (gold at Asian Championships in Manila) and 1998 (silver at Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur). Kulawansa, the most successful Sri Lankan athlete in the history of the Asian Championship, will be looking forward to her fifth medal, having already won four in 1993 (silver in Manila), 1995 (gold in Jakarta), 2000 (bronze in Jakarta) and 2002 (silver in Colombo). Kulawansa failed to qualify for the recently concluded World Championship. As exclusively reported in these columns, Jani Chaturangani has been entered to run in women's 200m, in place of injured Jayasinghe. The other entry for women's 200m from Sri Lanka is Damayanthi Darsha, who will also run in her pet event women's 400m, in which she has won gold medals at back to back Asian Games and Asian Championships. However, Sri Lanka will not field a replacement for Jayasinghe in women's 100m with Chaturangani being the sole entry. Sri Lanka team will comprise 23 male and 14 female athletes, accompanied by five coaches including Sri Lanaka national coach Lakshman de Alwis. This will be the first overseas tour for De Alwis after being re-appointed national coach a few months ago. He was not included in the Sri Lanka team for the Paris World Championship. The other coaches in the Lankan team are Anura Bandara, Badra Gunawardena, Sarath Galagoda, M. A. Thiagaraja, Lt. Jayasekera and Jayantha Siyamudali. B.D.N. Kularatne will be the Assistant Manager cum coach. The forthcoming Asian Championship will be a crucial hurdle for the Lankan athletes after their setbacks in recent times. The brightest gold medal prospect will be Asian Games triple gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha, who returns to the team after skipping the World Championship due to a leg injury. This will be the first time that Darsha will be seen in action after registering her marriage a couple of months back. Her coach Sunil Gunawardena said that Darsha has fully recovered from her leg injury and should do well. Asian Games gold medal winning sprinter Sugath Tillakaratne too will be coming out for the first time after his wedding which took place last Monday on his return from Paris. But Tillakaratne will be having a testing time in Manila against Al Shamarie Fowzie and Hamdon Al Bishi, the two big league sprinters from Middle East. R.M.C. Subhashini, who was in the team for the women's 4 x 400m relay has pulled out as she has to compete at the National School Games. Sri Lanka team for the Asian Championship: Men: S.P.N. Hemantha, R.D.U.S. Surendra, Prasanna Amarasekera, Sugath Tillakaratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando, P.W.G.M. Pushpakumara, J.H.M. Sifrath, M.M.C. Wijekoon, J.M.S. Jayaweera, Indika Kumara, Harijana Ratnayake, G.S.P. Mendis, Manjula Kuamara Wijesekera, A.A.D.N. Proyadharshana, Nuwan Sampath, J.A. Nishan Kumara, S.B.C.S. Weerasinghe T.F. Aalileema, A.A.P. Nishnatha, Chinthaka de Zoysa, A.R.M.C.B. Ramanayake, D.M.P.B. Caldera, Joy Danushka Perera, Ranga Wimalawansa, Rohitha Pushpakumara. Women: Jani Chathurangani Silva , K.V. Damayanthi Darsha, W.M.P. Wickremasinghe, P.S.B. Sujeewa Nilmini Jayasena, Sriyani Kulawansa Foinseka (Captain), K.K.M.P. De Silva, Nadika Lakmali, G.G. Nandani, L.S. Irangani, D.H.N. Priyadharshani |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
