Sri Lanka pin their hopes on Susanthika

Chris Dhambarage reporting from Thailand

ATHLETICS: Sydney Olympic Games bronze medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe will be the cynosure of all eyes when the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Series athletic meet gets under way at the National Stadium in Bangkok on Thursday.

The 30-year-old sprinter is making a comeback into the international scene after a lapse of two years and will compete in the women's 200 metres event scheduled to be worked off at 2.30 p.m local time.

Jayasinghe's preparations for this meet has been quite outstanding where she completed a fine double at the recent UCA international meeting in Los Angeles where she won both the women's 100 metres in 11.37 seconds and the women's 200 metres in 23.11 seconds respectively.

Jayasinghe said that her American coach George Campbell changed both her start and training techniques which has produced good results. She said that she is now fresh and confident of facing any challenge ahead of this year where Sri Lanka are also expected to field a strong contingent for the South Asian Games in Colombo and for the Asian Games in Doha Qatar.

Jayasinghe said that she is just recovering from an injury and is hoping to reach her peak towards the end of this year with a couple of major international events in mind. Her best in the women's 200 metres was at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 where she clocked 22.28 seconds having earlier returned her best ever timing of 11.04 seconds in the 100 metres event at the Yokahama Grand Prix meeting in Japan.

Jayasinghe is now determined to break the eleven second barrier during this year and her target is to return a time of 10.09 seconds. After the Asian Grand Prix Series which concludes with two events in India Jayasinghe will fly back to the USA to train under Campbell until the South Asian Games in August this year.

Sri Lanka's other two main prospects at the Asian Grand Prix meet are Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Prasanna Amarasekera who will form a fierce combination in the men's 400 metres. In addition Umanga Sanjaya Surendra will participate in the men's 100 metres event and Harijin Ratnayake will run in the men's 400 metres hurdles.

Menaka Wickremasinghe will complete the Sri Lankan line up and will compete in the women's 400 metres. The second leg of the Asian Grand Prix Series will be held in Bangalore India on May 22 and the third and final leg will be worked off in Pune India on May 26.

BANGKOK, Wednesday.