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| Wednesday, 21 July 2004 |
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Will Manjula make it to Olympics? by Dinesh Weerawansa The Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) has obtained permission from the world governing body to field promising young high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekera at the forthcoming Olympic Games, provided that the athlete reach qualification mark. Secretary of the AASL, Prema Pinnawale said the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) has written to them granting time till this weekend to qualify. He said Wijesekera, the high jumper has to reach the Olympic 'B' grade qualification mark of 2.27m before the August 11 deadline. Wijesekera, who improved on his Sri Lanka national record to 2.25m during the recent Asian Grand Prix Series, will be looking forward to clear 0.02m more during this weekend's National Championships. However, Sri Lanka's men's 4 x 400m relay team's qualification to run at the Athens Olympics looks slim and may miss a place. Not only Sri Lanka (average timing 3:03.75), but India (3:03.72), which won all three Asian Grand Prix men's 400m relays, too are set to be out of the event. Sri Lanka, which was in the 15th place before the Asian Grand Prix series, have now gone down to 18th slot behind India. Nigeria (3:03.57) and Dominican Republic (3:03.71) have now taken the 15th and 16th places in the latest IAAF relay ratings. The AASL officials tried to field the relay team to a couple of IAAF ratified meets but they did not get positive response from meet organizers in Europe or Africa. Only the top 16 teams in the world in each of the four relays qualify to run at the Olympics as the deadline to take the final IAAF World ratings ends on Friday. Meanwhile, four Sri Lanka athletes, including Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, would skip this weekend's Sri Lanka National Championships. President of the AASL, Sunil Jayaweera said Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando and Joy Danushka Perera have already submitted medical certificates seeking permission to skip the 82nd Sri Lanka National Athletic Championships to be worked off at Sugathadasa Stadium from Friday. All four sprinters took part at the third and final Asian Grand Prix Series meet in Manila on July 1. Jayasinghe is expected to leave for the United States later this month to join her American coach Tony Campbell who would take care of her in the final lead up to the Olympics. Campbell, who guided the celebrated Lankan woman sprinter to a 200m bronze at the last Olympics in Sydney, has been in constant touch with Jayasinghe and provided training schedules. Jayasinghe plans to run in a couple of IAAF ratified meets either in US or Europe, to be arranged by Campbell, before she takes wing to Greece. She has already qualified to run in women's 100m and must run a 200m under 23.13 seconds before August 11, if she is to qualify in her pet event too. |
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