SL team shatter two championship records
by Reemus Fernando
Ratnayake Central, Walala prodigy Tharushi Karunaratne and the men’s 4×400 metres relay team clinched golds creating new championship records as Sri Lanka Track and Field team produced some remarkable performances winning four medals on the final day to conclude the most successful Asian Athletics Championship by the number of medals in Thailand yesterday.
Tharushi Karunaratne followed up her recent Junior Asian Championship gold winning the women’s 800 metres gold with a remarkable performance as she became the first school athlete since Damayanthi Dharsha to win a medal at the Asian Championship. She beat strong Indian counterpart K.M. Chanda in the final lap and returned a time of 2:00.66 seconds to win. The athlete trained by Susantha Fernando broke the Championship record of 2:01.16 seconds set by Zhang Jian (China) in 1998 at Fukuoka.
It was the first time in 21 years that a Sri Lankan established a championship record since Susanthika Jayasinghe created the championship record in the 200m in 2002. Former national 800 metres record holder Gayanthika Abeyratne who led the first lap settled for bronze behind Chand. While it was Abeyratne’s second bronze medal of the meet (she won the bronze of the 1,500 metres as well), it was Tharushi’s second medal after winning the mixed relay silver on Saturday also in a new Sri Lanka record time.
Couple of hours later Karunaratne returned to anchor the final leg of the women’s 4×400 metres relay. The race was given a strong start by the event’s individual 400 metres gold medallist Nadeesha Ramanayake who gave Lakshima Mendis the baton in the lead. But when Karunaratne received the baton from Harshani Fernando for the final lap Sri Lanka were in the fourth place. Karunaratne who had been involved in record breaking feats from the time she was 15 years of age summoned all her school experiences to beat the strong teams from the region to win the silver medal for Sri Lanka. The silver winning time of 3:33.27 seconds is the new Sri Lanka record beating previous record established at the Asian Championship in Doha in 2019.
The men’s 4×400 metres relay team inclusive of Aruna Dharshana, Rajitha Rajakaruna, Pabasara Niku and Kalinga Kumarage produced a remarkable performance in the men’s 4×400 metres relay as they established a new championship record returning a time of 03:01.56 seconds. experienced campaigner Kalinga Kumarage ran a tactically brilliant final lap as the team returned Asia’s all time fifth fastest performance.
In all Sri Lanka won eight medals to be ranked fourth in the medals table behind Japan (37), China (22) and India (27). It is also the highest ranking position acquired by Sri Lanka at the Asian Championship history. The previous best position was the sixth place in 2002.