An Asian Games medal for Sri Lanka in track and field continued to elude them after the country’s relay team were disqualified for a lane infringement. The formidable mixed relay quartet of Aruna Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage, Nadeesha Ramanayake and schoolgirl Tharushi Karunaratne did well to finish second behind Bahrain in the mixed relay final in Hangzhou on Monday but were later disqualified.
In a dramatic anchor leg Ratnayake Central Walala prodigy Karunaratne held off her Indian counterpart to finish second in a time of 3:14.25 seconds which could have erased their own national record.
The official results however showed Sri Lanka team being disqualified. Sri Lanka Athletics said in a statement that it had made an appeal but later Saman Kumara Gunawardena, the secretary of SLA said that in a violation of a lane rule, Aruna Dharshana had landed his foot on the inner lane while handing over the baton to Nadeesha Ramanayake for the second leg.
While Bahrain won the gold in a time of 3:14.02 seconds, India settled for silver (3:14.34). Kazakhstan won the bronze in a time of 3:24.85 seconds.
Sri Lanka were within a medal from the start as they were competing for gold alongside Bahrain and India. The disqualification force the likes of Tharushi Karunaratne and Gayanthika Abeyratne and men’s and women’s 4×400 metres relay quartets to battle it out to end the longstanding medal drought during the next couple of days.
Young Tharushi Karunaratne who is set to compete in the women’s 800 metres will also join the women’s 4×400 metres team to fight for podium place.
Dharshana and Kumarage will compete in the men’s 4×400 metres.