Athletes raring to achieve their best at AYG

First Asian Youth Games open on Monday:

Chinthana WASALA

With only three days remaining for the inaugural Asian youth games, the 30 member Sri Lankan contingent is in fully geared to face the games which will mark its commencement at Singapore on Monday.

The nine day sports extravaganza will see 30 Sri Lankan boys and girls competing along with around 1,400 boys and girls from 45 countries in the Asian region.

Team Sri Lanka will be competing in five sporting disciplines at the inaugural Games - Athletics, FIBA 3 on 3 Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Swimming and Table Tennis.

Athletics will be the main focus when it comes to medal hopes. So the Sri Lankan team will also depend highly on Athletes to bring more medals home. Sri Lanka fields six girls and six boys, all of them raring to go for their best performances at this International championships, the very first international exposure for most of them.

“We are really confident about our athletes. Hopefully they are among the best in the region. But we are still unable to make any assessment about the athletes from other countries. But our boys and girls will not have things easy for them,” said Chandana Ekanayake, the team manager. Among the athletes, A.M.D. Lahiru who hails from Joseph Vaz College will be on focus in the boys’ 400m event. He clocked 50.77 seconds at the selection trials and will be one of the key hopes for a medal. The others also will give their best on behalf of the country as they all vow to bring their motherland an honour.

Athletic event will begin on Tuesday and the Bishan Stadium which is situated 22 kilometers from the Games Village will be the venue.

Sri Lankan athletes at the AYG: Heshan Amarasinghe, Madushanka Athawuda, Dulaj Lahiru, Indunil Herath, Milan Dissanayake, Danushka Fernando, Chathubashini Maralanda, Jeewanthi Senanayake, Nadeeshani Henderson, Anne Marie Perera, Nayomika Gimhani, and Madushani Siriwardana.