Nimali Liyanarachchi won the only medal – Performances Asian Athletics

Middle distance runner from Sooriyawewa, Nimali Liyanarachchi won the only medal for Sri Lanka as she clocked a new personal best to seal a bronze medal in the women’s 800m at the 21st Asian Athletics Championship concluded yesterday at Wuhan, China.

Nimali who was in the spotlight for a medal from the moment of selection to the team, delivered as expected with a 2:03.94 sec performance in heavy rainy conditions.
“I expected a medal more than anything, and was able to do that even though I missed the Sri Lanka record (2:03.85 sec) by a few points,” said Nimali, who seemed to be disappointed about the time rather than enjoying the podium finish after her race.
Nimali seemed to be targeting the medal rather than time in the race as she did not try to compete with Indian Tintu Lukka while keeping in close proximity to Chinese athlete Zhao Jing, and ran hard in the last 200m to secure the medal.
“I have three Grand Prix races coming up and expect to set new Sri Lanka records, as well as aim towards IAAF World Championship qualification” added Nimali.
Even though Sri Lanka won the expected 800m medal in the championship, it appeared none of the officials were prepared for the celebration, as Nimali didn’t receive a National Flag when she finished the race, or when she went for the medal ceremony.
Nimali Liyanarachchi wasn’t selected for the Asian Games last year despite being the country’s best 800m runner, and her coach said if she had been given an opportunity there, she may have secured a medal there too. Nimali and her coach Sujith Abeysekara trained some 250km away from the capital in Sooriyawewa, in a place which cannot be called a proper ground.
As mentioned before, Nimali, unlike many others, asked for a ground in Sooriyawewa from the authorities rather than personal benefits, as a ground for Sooriyawewa would have benefitted many athletes from that area, who had done and are doing remarkably well in Sri Lankan athletics.
Meanwhile, her former training partner also from Sooriyawewa, Gayanthika Abeyratne, finished in 6th place (2:07.46 sec).
Nadeeka Lakmali, another prime medal hope for the country, finished in a disappointing 4th position with a best throw of 52.29m. Lakmali was seeded for the bronze medal until the last moment, where Japanese Miyashita Risa threw a distance of 54.76m in her last attempt to seal the bronze. In the event worked off under rainy condition, none of athletes could throw near their seasonal or personal best, except for the winner, Chinese Liu Shiying, who set a new championship record of 61.33m. Almost all of them did not use their usual technique as they tried to throw as far as possible while running a few steps due to the wet and slippery condition of both the javelin and the track.
Vidusha Lakshani, the triple jumper, couldn’t produce a big performance under the rainy weather as she finished 7th with a best of 12.69m jump, which was won by Wang Wupin of China with a 13.76m jump.
Team leader Manjula Kumara Wijesekara was the unlucky athlete of the day as he finished sixth in the rain hampered high jump event, where the world record holder finished in third position. Manjula cleared 2:20m in his third attempt, and after one failure at 2:24m jump, skipped the next two attempts and tried the next height 2:28m. He did it assuming world leader and Asian record holder Qatar athlete Mutaz Barsham will definitely go past the 2:30m mark. But surprising many, including himself, Barsham failed to clear the 2:24m mark in his three attempts, and Manjula must have cursed himself for his previous decision. Nevertheless, he failed to clear 2:28m in his remaining two attempts and finished 6th. Barsham, who cleared 2:20m in first attempt, secured the bronze medal, and if Wijesekera cleared 2:24m without skipping, it was he who would have secured the bronze medal.
Indunil Herath disappointed in the 800m men’s finals as he finished in 5th position with 1:51.51 seconds. Indunil ran 1:50 seconds with ease in the heats and it was expected he would run well below that in the finals. But he couldn’t produce his usual best under heavy rain, and the event was won by Musaab Bala of Qatar in 1:49.40 sec .
The men’s 4X400m relay team finished in fifth position with a time of 3:05.79 seconds, which was won by Qatar beating favourite Saudi Arabia.
Sprinter Femi Ogunode of Qatar, who was in the spotlight to go below the 20 seconds mark in the 200m, couldn’t do so due to the rainy condition, even though he secured the sprinting double as well as 4X400m relay gold medal. Mohommad Saeed of UAE set a new championship record in the 10,000m women’s event in the day, where Indian athlete Babar Lalita who was in third position after 22 laps of the 25 laps race, couldn’t finish due to cramps.
Host china kept their superiority with clean sweeps in the women’s triple jump and shot putt, and won the most number of medals at the championship as expected.