Rumeshika Ratnayake;SL New national record in 4X100m relay (39.38 sec)

Sri Lanka men’s 4X100m relay team set a new national record as they missed the medal by 0.03 seconds while schoolgirl sprinter Rumeshika Ratnayake clocked a personal best of 11.56 seconds in 100m on the second day of the 21st Asian Athletics Championship held yesterday here in Wuhan China.
Ratnayake stunned the spectators as she clocked the third fastest time by 100m female sprinter in Sri Lankan history (11.56 seconds), as she finished sixth in the women’s 100m finals.
“I wanted to answer to people who doubted my ability and did not select me for the tour at first and also for those who trusted me. My target was 11.6 seconds and I did below that,” said Rumeshika who had mixed feelings about missing a medal as well as clocking an amazing time.
In the men’s 4X100m relay, schoolboy Himasha Eashan took the start of the relay followed by Shehan Ambepitiya, Suranjaya de Silva and Mohommad Ashroff in the final lap where all did their best and ran best for the country as they clocked 39.38 seconds, a new Sri Lanka record for the second time in the day. Still they couldn’t finish in the podium.
They ended fourth behind China, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei who finished just 0.03 seconds in front (39.35 seconds) for the third place.
By doing so, Sri Lanka beat teams like Thailand who are Asian giants in relay running, while also finishing ahead of India.
Earlier in the heat Sri Lanka clocked 39.59 seconds (a new record) and finished third to advance for the finals.
The Sri Lanka team erased the previous record of 39.71 seconds set by Prabashitha Caldera, Umanga Surendra, D. Dissanayake and Joy Danushka Perera in 2004 at the Asian Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, female hurdler Niluka Wickremasinghe clocked a disappointing 61.66 seconds and finished fourth in the heat, while failing to advance.
Chandrika Rasnayake clocked a disappointing 54.24 seconds to finish fifth in the 400m women finals. Chaminda Wijekoon clocked 14:23.77 sec and finished 9th in the 5000m men’s final.
Today will be a rest for competition which will resume tomorrow.