High hopes in men’s 400m and 400m relay

Sri Lanka, with a 17-member strong team will be hoping to do their best at the Asian Grand Prix Athletic Championship opening leg of the Bangkok National Stadium today.

Most of the Lankan hopes of gold medal hopes rest on Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera in his pet event 400m and the men’s 400m X 4 relay team which includes Rohitha Pushpakumara, Dulan Priyashantha, Asoka Jayasundara and Shiwantha Weerasuriya along with him.

Without any doubt, Sri Lanka are favourites for this event in the South Asian region and are among the top three in Asia. The challenge for them in this Grand Prix Series is to get their act going for the Beijing Olympics.

With Rohan Pradeep Kumara missing out on this tour, Dulan Priyashantha and Shiwanka have provided to deliver. Rohitha Pushpakumara and Ashoka Jayasundara, familiar names in the men’s 400m relay, will give of their best.

Strong resistance is expected from the top Asian competitors in this event as Saudi Arabia, the winners of the Last Asian Games in Doha 2006. Qatar is also expected to give a fight and not forgetting the neighbours, India who were placed second ahead of the Lankans in Doha 2006.

But the recently concluded third South Asian Athletics Championship in Cochi, India saw the Lankans excel in this event. The home team was beaten with 3 mins. 08.93 secs. which was also a new meet record.

Bangkok, Monday