Nine athletes attain qualifying standard for World Junior Athletics ahead of final selection meet

By Susil Premalal

Nine athletes have achieved the IAAF qualifying standard to represent Sri Lanka at the 2022 World Junior Under-20 Athletic Championship (WJAC). The WJAC will be held in Cali, Colombia from August 2 to 7.

Six boys and three girls have achieved the qualifying standard before the deadline of July 17.

A total of 160 national associations will compete in 45 events at the WJAC tournament, according to the IAAF.
Meanwhile, more athletes are expected to achieve World Junior qualifying standard when the 110 final events of the postponed Junior Nationals Athletic Championship takes place from June 7 to 10, according to Sri Lanka Athletics statistics recorder Saman Kumara Gunawardena.

Sri Lanka has never won a medal in the history of WJAC. At the last WJAC meet in Nairobi, seven Sri Lankan athletes participated.

The athletes who have attained the qualifying standard are as follows:

Men - Sithum Jayasundara (Sir John Kothalawala MV, Kurunegala) 400m, Kaveesha Bandara (Royal College, Colombo) 110m hurdles, KMD Darshana (Ambagamuwa MV) 400m hurdles, Hirusha Abeysekera (St. Peter’s College, Colombo) long jump, Rumesh Tharanga (St. Peter’s College, Colombo) javelin, Pasindu Malshan (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo) triple jump

Women - Tharushi Karunaratne (A. Ratnayaka MMV, Walala) 400m and 800m, MHJ Uthara (Holy Cross, Gampaha) 400m, Amesha Hettiarachchi (Vihara Maha Devi Balika, Kandy) 400m hurdles