Susanthika confident of winning 100 m. gold

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from Japan

ATHLETICS: The eleventh edition of the world’s greatest track and field extravaganza - the IAAF World Championship will get underway with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Nagai Stadium here on Saturday (25).

All arrangements have been finalised to meet the Japanese perfection as the World Championship gets underway with Sri Lanka’s only medal hope being Susanthika Jayasinghe, who is due to come out for the first time on Sunday.

Jayasinghe, fresh after a month-long stint in the United States, looked cheerful and confident as she completed her first work out here today.

She has been training on a schedule given by her long-standing American coach Tony Campbell - the man who guided the Lankan lass to win her first Olympic medal in 52 years. Jayasinghe is happy with the progress she has made so far.

“My performance at the recent Asian Championship and training in Los Angeles has given new life to me. I have the same form and confidence I have had prior to Sydney Olympics seven years ago,” the 31-year-old veteran woman sprinter said.

The 2000 Olympic medallist is due to compete in the first round heats of women’s 100m scheduled for Sunday morning. The warm weather similar to that of Colombo should favour Jayasinghe.

“I feel weather here is fine by me,” she said. Jayasinghe had a two-hour work out at the Nagai Stadium this morning as her husband cum coach Dhammika Nandakumara kept a close eye.

Jayasinghe paid a glowing tribute to former Sri Lanka champion high jumper Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. “He has been helping me like a father, looking into my needs. It was Ethir Sir who found me a coach,” she said. During her recent stay in the US, the Lankan lass was trained by Dave Rodda, the Assistant coach at the California State University, Long Beach.

The celebrated Lankan sprinter said her training schedules were based on original schedules given by Campbell, whom Jayasinghe missed during her last training in the US as the coach was in Europe with some of his American sprinters. “But Ethir sir found me an experienced coach and also assisted during my training,” she said.

She was particularly happy with the progress she has made so far, especially her lead-up for the World Championships here. “I feel great and have been putting all my effort so far in training. I feel I could do my brilliant best here, provided everything goes fine,” Jayasinghe added.

Rodda is a personal friend of Ethirveerasingam and has coached the US international teams twice in the nineties and now trains national level athletes.

“He coached Susanthika for a few days at the beginning and gave a work-out for the rest of the days as he was going on summer vacations with his family to the Mountains. I guided Susanthika’s training with his work-out but modified it based on observations and Susanthika’s consultations,” Ethirveerasingam said from Los Angeles.

“The last three weeks has been a tune-up exercise on the track and in a well equipped gymnasium, where I also work out,” he added. Sri Lanka’s first Asian Games gold medallist also added that Asian Championship gold medallist Manjula Kumara Wijesekera has just returned to the US and is getting back into his stride and will start his new university semester on Monday.

“On that day also he will start conditioning and strength training towards peaking in Beijing. His coach is Michael Pullins, Jumps Coach at University of Southern California,” he added. Incidentally, Pullins is currently here in Osaka with four of his athletes and two of his former athletes representing the US team at the World Championship.

Besides women’s 100m, Jayasinghe will be competing in her pet event of 200m, which has brought fortune for Sri Lanka on many occasions in international arena. Both the men’s and women’s sprints will be the cynosure of all eyes at the 203-nation mega event here.

Particularly, the duo who aim to become the fastest man and woman here, American Tyson Gay and Jamaican Veronica Campbell will have a tight schedule.

In their lead-up to Osaka, both cruised to impressive double dash victories at the US and Jamaican championships, respectively, and both will set out to repeat those triumphs on the global stage this weekend.

While both have been among the world’s fastest in recent years -Campbell is of course the reigning Olympic 200m champion - Osaka could mark a pivotal point in their careers with each chasing their first world title.

Gay’s big meet pedigree is much like that of his prime rival, Jamaican World record holder Asafa Powell. “I don’t have any medals,” said Gay, who reached the finish at the tail end of a top-four US sweep in the 200m two years ago. “I don’t know what that feels like.”

Gray’s 9.84 seconds and 19.62 seconds performances this season to become the fastest combination sprinter in history. “In the final I really believe that it’ll take 9.80 or faster (to win the gold),” Gay said.

“I’ve run 9.84 this year and feel I can go faster with the right wind conditions.” He added.

In the women’s sprints - in which Sri Lanka has a special interest due to the presence of Susanthika Jayasinghe, Jamaican Veronica Campbell is going to be the star sensation. While confident about her preparation, Campbell refused to make any predictions but did draw one comparison between her pre-Olympic form three years ago with her pre-Osaka form now.

“Before the Olympics I was No.1 in the 200 metres, and I went on and won the 200 metres,” she said. “Now I’m No. 1 in the 100 metres, and we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Besides her world pacing 10.89 from the Jamaican championships, Campbell has also produced 10.91 and 10.93 timings, more sub-11s than any other woman this season.

OSAKA, Friday