Sugath Tillakaratne ruled out of 10th South Asian Games

Dinesh WEERAWANSA

GAMES: Former Asian Games gold medallist Sugath Tillakaratne has been ruled out of the 10th South Asian Games which is due to commence in Colombo on August 18.

Sprinter Tillakaratne, men's 400m gold medallist at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok and gold medallist at the 1999 Asian Championships in Fukuoka, has failed to make it to the Sri Lanka team even as a member of the men's 4 x 400m relay team.

The veteran Sri Lanka sprinter from Norton Bridge, who earlier failed to make it to his pet event of men's 400m, was included as a member of the men's 4 x 400m relay team.

But Tillakaratne will now be axed from men's 4x400m relay team after compatriot and fellow World Championship team mate Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera came good at a special trial.

Soldier Amarasekera, who clocked 46.72 seconds at the special trial conducted by the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) over the weekend.

Amarasekera, nursing a leg injury, did not compete at the 2006 Sri Lanka national championship worked off mid this month. Instead, the AASL asked Amarasekera to run at a special trial to prove his fitness before the Games.

Accordingly, the Army sprinter did well to satisfy the national selectors and found a place in the Sri Lanka team.

Amarasekera will now join former South Asian Games double gold medallist Rohan Pradeep Kumara Fernando to become the two Lankan competitors in men's 400m.

The duo will be joined by M.U. Mudunegedara and Rohitha Pushpakumara in forming Sri Lanka's 400m relay quartet.

Tillakaratne will now have to be in the stand by list of sprinters for the 4 x 400m, along with M.M.N. Marasinghe and T.D.S. Piyaratne.

The downfall of Tillakaratne began after he was placed a poor fourth at this year's Sri Lanka National championships. In the absence of Amarasekera, fellow Sri Lanka sprinter Rohan Pradeep clocked 46.23 seconds to win this year's men's 400m national title.

Mudunegedara (47.15) and Pushpakumara (47.21), who finished second and third respectively, too did not register impressive timings as the race went on a low pace. Yet, Tillakaratne could not finish within the three.

An official of the AASL said the 74-member Sri Lanka athletic team, captained by Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, will commence their residential training from August 10.

Jayasinghe will be looking forward to complete a 'golden triple' in her last international meet on home soil before a possible retirement by the end of this year.

It will be interesting to see how Jayasinghe fare in 200m event, where she would meet compatriot Damayanthi Darsha. When the two top women sprinters met at the 2006 Nationals, Jayasinghe beat Darsha, who settled for the second place without a fight.