Sonali clocks a season’s best

[Dinesh Weerawansa - Reporting From England]

Sri Lanka's Sonali Christine Merril clocked a season's best 57.15 seconds, yet she finished last in first round heat five of women's 400m hurdles at the XXXth Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium here last night. Her timing was well behind her personal best timing of 56.83 registered in Japan last year.

“I ran a pretty bad race, but got a pretty good timing,” said the 24-year-old Lankan lass who is based in the United States.Running in disadvantageous lane nine in the last of the five women's 400m hurdles heats, Merril got off to a reasonably good start and was among the top lot by the first 150m but she could not maintain her pace.

She was one of the first to come out of blocks but lacked staying power and endurance that is needed for a terrific finish. “I ran badly in the bend.

That was one of my weak points and I have been focusing on that. But it did not click well and as a result I could not achieve the timing that I was expecting. I wanted to go for a personal best but ended up with a season's best,” she said after her heat number five which was won by Perri ShakesDrayton in 54.62 seconds, ahead of Jamaican Melaine Walker (54.78) and Ukrainian Hanna Yaroshchuk (54.81).Of the five women's 400m hurdles first round heats, Russian Antyukh Natalya, who won the second heat, registered the best timing among 40 competitors. Zusana Hejnova of Czech Republic, who won the first heat in 53.96 seconds, was the only other hurdler to break the 54-second barrier in heats.

Merril, who made a dream debut for Sri Lanka last year winning the bronze medal of her pet event at the Asian Championships in Kobe, Japan last year,went on to represent Sri Lanka at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu,South Korea last year. “But this is altogether a new experience, different atmosphere and challenge. It was great to get that experience which I could use to perform better in future. I hope the experience I got here, competing with the best athletes in the world, would go a long way and would guide me for better feats in future. I am looking forward to that,” said Merril, a graduate of the University of California. The final of the women's 400m hurdles will be worked off on Wednesday.

Asked whether she felt the absence of her coach American Joey Tosta, she said it would have been advantageous have a coach on the spot, though she had competed without a coach in the past. “I inquired whether I could get down my coach. I tried but I was unsuccessful. But I have performed well in the past without a coach,” she said.

Merril is not the only Sri Lankan competitor to feel the absence of a coach. None of the seven Sri Lankans competing at the London Olympics do not have any of their coaches and the contingent does not have a single coach, though the overall captain Niluka Karunaratne managed to get down a foreign coach when he was coming to England from Warsaw, Poland after his overseas training stint.

She is not the only Lankan competitor to miss the absence of a coach. Two days ago, rifle shooter Mangala Samarakoon widely criticised the absence of coaches and said that it was a big disadvantage. Following allegations that a large number of officials have come to London with the Sri Lanka team,Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has wowed to appoint a special committee to make an inquiry.

The exit of Merril makes veteran long distance runner Anuradha Indrajith Cooray the only Sri Lankan left to be seen in action at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Former Sri Lanka national champion who is based in the United Kingdom, qualified to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games after achieving qualifying standards at this year's London Marathon three months ago.

He has been hard at practice over the past couple of years and is looking forward to better his personal best at the men's marathon of the LondonOlympics to be worked off on Sunday (12), the final day of the 204-nation Games here in the British capital.-

LONDON, Monday.