Sprinters Asiri Wijesekera and Rumesha Rathnayake stole the show with new meet records in the 200m dash,

Sprinters Asiri Wijesekera and Rumesha Rathnayake stole the show with new meet records in the 200m dash, as seven new meet records were set on the third day of the Junior National Athletics Championship.
Wijesekara from Gateway College clocked 21.88 seconds in the Boys under 18 200m dash to erase the record set by another Gateway sprinter, Shehan Ambepitiya, of 22.20 seconds in 2007. Wijesekara’s feat could have secured him a silver medal at the 1st Asian Youth Athletics Championship (AYAC) held at Qatar recently, where he finished fourth with 22.21 seconds in the finals.
Meanwhile, two other sprinters S.M. Safaan of St. Mary’s College Chilaw and L.S.N. Perera of Nalanda College Colombo clocked 22.14 seconds which bettered the previous record to finish second and third.
The performance of all three sprinters was better than the under 20 boys’ performance in the same discipline, while all of them went below the IAAF World Youth Championship qualifying standard of 22.25 seconds, even though Wijesekara had already qualified for the event by last year.
Rumesha Rathnayake, the sprinter from St. Joseph’s BV Kegalle who achieved the incredible feat of erasing Damayanthi Dharsha’s girls under 20, 200m record set 22 years ago (1993) day before yesterday at the 200m heats, further improved her time in yesterday’s final with a sizzling 24.12 seconds to win the gold. Rathnayake who already clocked 11.8 seconds in the 100m two weeks ago at the National trials, could easily erase the 100m record today, which is 12.0 second, also set by Dharsha in 1993.
Asian youth bronze medallist middle distance runner, Dilhani Fernando from Lumbini College Colombo clocked 2 minutes 12.33 seconds in the girls under 20 800m .
Harsha Sandaruwan of A. Rathnayake Central College Walala, clocked 2 minutes and 0.59 seconds to erase the under 16 boys 800m record set by Janith Kushan in 2011.
Hurdler Yamani Dulanjali of Ambagamuwa Central College Udabulathgamuwa, who won a gold medal recently at the AYAC, returned to the local track after her heroics in Qatar as she clocked 1 minutes 02.12 seconds in the girls under 18 400m hurdle to set a new meet record erasing Gimhani Jayathilake’s record set in 2010.
Dharshan Rajapaksha, hurdler from St. Sylvester’s College Kandy who won a silver medal at AYAC with a time of 52.87 seconds, was shocked by Maris Stella’s Uditha Chandrasena in the boys under 18 400m hurdle, as he to set new meet record of 53.38 seconds. Chandrasena finished fourth in the AYAC with a time of 53.14 seconds. Rajapaksha clocked 53.94 seconds to finished second while both athletes ran below the previous record which was set by Lahiru Prasanjith (54.17 seconds) in

2011.
S.M. Fernando of Navy clocked 52.70 seconds to erase the under 23 400m hurdle set by P.Y. Ajith in 2005 which was 53.29 seconds.
Vidusha Lakshani who set new meet record in the Triple Jump day before, won the gold medal for girls under 20 long jump (5.89m) to win double gold medals.
Hurdler Ireshani Rajasinghe clocked another personal best of 14.77 seconds to win the girls under 23 100m hurdle, while Asian Youth games silver medallist Akila Ravishanka clocked 14.40 seconds to win the boys under 20 100m hurdle.
The championship will conclude today with a number of finals on the cards, including eye catching 100m and 400m.