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| Thursday, 1 July 2004 |
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Asian Grand Prix 2004: Sri Lanka at full strength Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Philippines Manila, Wednesday. - Sri Lanka would field a larger team than in Thailand for the third and final leg of the Asian Grand Prix 2004 Series to be worked off here tomorrow (July 1). With Sri Lanka deciding to field its record breaking men's 4 x 100m relay team after success in the Colombo Grand Prix, they will also compete in men's 100m. The nine-member Sri Lanka team, which arrived here last afternoon, had few light workouts under the watchful eyes of team coach Yasarohana de Silva. Meanwhile, the strength of the touring Sri Lanka team would be increased to 13 with the arrival of men's 4 x 100m relay team, which finished second at the Colombo Grand Prix with a new Sri Lanka national record. Due to the quick action taken by the Minister of Youth Affairs Jeewan Kumaratunga and Deputy Minister Sripathi Sooriyarachchi after the relay team's new Sri Lanka record on Sunday, the four male sprinters were able to make an eleventh hour entry to the Manila Grand Prix. Of the four men's 100m relay team members, Joy Danushka Perera would also compete in men's 100m individual event, according to Sri Lanka team manager Oliver Fernando. He said Perera (men's 100), Prasanna Amarasekera (men's 200m), Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando (men's 400m), Chaminda Wijekoon (men's 1,500m), Susanthika Jayasinghe (women's 200m), Jani Chathurangani Silva (women's 200m) and Damayanthi Darsha (women's 400m) would compete in individual events. In addition, Sri Lanka will also be represented in the two men's relays - 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m. The venue for Thursday's big event will be Rizal Memorial Track & Field Stadium situated at Adriatico Street, Malate in Metro Manila. All in all, there will be a total of over 200 athletes taking part in 20 events - ten each for men's and women's. The Philippine capital is experiencing monsoon rains. Cloudy skies with occasional rains were experienced here today with gale force winds. The wet weather conditions, especially the winds due to a cyclonic situation in South East Asian region, may affect the performance of the sprinters. One of the worst affected could be Sri Lanka sprint queen Susanthika Jayasinghe, who blamed windy conditions for her unimpressive performance at the Colombo Grand Prix. "My only concern is winds which affected my normal run in Colombo too. If not for the winds, temperatures here are fine. I have improved on my season's best timings since South Asian Games. My target is to improve on my current season's best timing of 23.38 seconds," said the Sydney Olympic medallist. She did not speak of her required timing of 23.17 needed to qualify in her pet event for the Athens summer Games in August. Nevertheless, it would be a testing time for Asian athletes tomorrow as they make every effort to gain minimum qualifying standards for the Athens Olympics. Filipino long jumper Lerma Gabito, who finished third at the Colombo Grand Prix, has already qualified to compete at Athens Olympics after her performance in Sri Lanka. Besides Jayasinghe, the other Lankans who would be under pressure to gain Olympic qualification timing are the 400m relay sprinters. Sri Lanka's men's 4 x 400m relay team has advanced to 15th place in the latest world rankings after Colombo Grand Prix. India, having won both in Thailand and Sri Lanka, is placed 16th and posses a serious threat. With several European Grand Prix meets to come, Sri Lanka must clock under 3.4 seconds if they are to finish within the first 16 by August 11 deadline and keep their Olympic chances alive. Sri Lanka are unlikely to make any changes to their lap order in men's 400m relay - Fernando, Ranga Wimalawansa, Rohitha Pushpakumara and Amarasekera. But the latter who was under tremendous pressure in Colombo, will have to come good if Sri Lanka team is to benefit by the early lead given by Fernando and Wimalawansa. Meanwhile, Joy Danushka Perera, Prabhashitha Caldera, D.M. Dissanayake and Umanga Surendra will run for Sri Lanka in men's 100m relay. The Manila Grand Prix coincides with today's oath taking ceremony of the Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was re-elected to high office at the recent Presidential election here. After delivering her pre-inaugural speech at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, at the adjoining athletic stadium, this morning, President and her party flew to the Cebu provincial city. |
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