Five athletes for Taiwan Open

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka Athletic (SLA) will field a five-member elite contingent for the Taiwan Open Athletic Championship, on June 1-2 in Chinese Taipei 

This will be the last international event for Sri Lanka’s elite athletes, who are vying for a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France.      

Sri Lanka’s elite athletes have so far, participated in six international events since April 15 but none of them have qualified to compete at the Olympic Games. 

Sri Lanka’s elite athletes who will participate in the Taiwan Open Meet are Aruna Dharshana (Men’s 400m), Tharushi Karunarathna (Women’s 800m), Nadeesha Ramanayake (Women’s 400m), Gayanthika Abeyrathna (Women’s 800m) and Dilhani Lekamge (Women’s javelin throw). 

The cynosure of all eyes will be on sprinter Dharshana, who won the Men’s 400m event with a time of 45.48s at the second Belt and Road Athletics Invitation Athletic Meet in China.

Dharshana also qualified to run in the Men’s 200m final after winning the heats in 21.23s but unfortunately he had to pull out from the final due to an illness. 

Meanwhile, Lekamge had to settle for sixth place at the same meet with a poor performance of 53.58m.    Dharshana and Lekamge flew direct to Taiwan from China yesterday while the rest of the Sri Lankan contingent will arrive in Taiwan from Colombo.