800m runner Nimali gets wildcard for Tokyo after Nilani slips in Olympics ranking

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) announced that the entries of Yupun Abeykoon (men’s 100m) and Nimali Liyanarachchi (women’s 800m) were confirmed as participants for the Tokyo Olympic Games by World Athletics yesterday.  
The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) had earlier announced that Nilani Ratnayake (3,000m steeplechase) had qualified in the ‘Tokyo Olympic’ rankings but when World Athletics released the final entries Liyanarachchi has been confirmed as a wild card entrant.  

 A week before the June 29 qualification deadline, Nilani ranked 39, six places above the quota place of 45, but slipped to 49th and had to depend on withdrawals to qualify.  

Winner of many medals of all shades in international competitions, 31-year-old Liyanarachchi won a gold medal at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bubaneshwar in the 800 metres. She also won a gold medal at the 2016 Guwahati SAG (South Asian Games) and silver medal at the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan.  
Air Force runner Liyanarachchi clocked a personal best of 2 minutes 02.58 seconds in 2017 while she also achieved a personal best of 53.9 seconds in the 400 metres in 2016.