Selection Trial for Asian Youth Championships
by Reemus Fernando
Asian Youth Championship medallist Nirmali Wickramasinghe of Wickramabahu Central, Gampola is among dozens of leading youth athletes vying to achieve qualifying standards for the next edition of the Asian event which will be held in Uzbekistan.
The final selection trial to pick Sri Lanka’s team for the Asian event will be held today and tomorrow at Diyagama.
Despite a marked drop in performance standards at the last Asian Youth Championships, Sri Lanka Athletics has set tough qualifying standards to select the team for the next edition .
While setting up tough entry standard even for the trial meet, the Athletics officials have raised the qualifying standards in some events.
The qualifying standard for the boys’ 1500 metres is set at four minutes despite even the gold medal of the last meet being decided in a time of 4:04.59 minutes.
In the corresponding girls event too the qualifying standard is 4:48.00 minutes. The gold medal of the last championship was decided in 4:51.61 minutes.
Wickramasinghe who won the silver medal of the girls’ 800 metres at the Asian Youth Championship in Kuwait last year has run the 1500m below the qualifying standard and will be among dozen others eager to excell at the two-day meet.
In the 400 metres, the event where Sri Lanka won two medals last year, the qualifying standard is 48.80 seconds for boys while it is 56.50 for girls.
Events on day one:
Women’s 3,000m, Men’s 3,000m, Women’s 200m Heats, Men’s 200m Heats, Women’s 400m Hurdles, Men’s 400m Hurdles, Men’s high jump, Women’s Long Jump, Women’s 800m, Men’s 800m, Women’s 100m hurdles, Men’s 110m hurdles, Men’s triple jump, Men’s pole vault, Women’s 200m, Men’s 200m.