Sachini Perera vaults to Sri Lanka record

By Susil Premalal

Sachini Perera of Army set a new Sri Lanka record in the women’s Pole Vault event on the second day of the 98th National Athletic Championship held at the Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday.

She cleared a distance of 3.56 meters to erase Sabaragamuwa University athlete Aniththa Jegetheeshwaran’s record of 3.55m set last year.

The Athletic Nationals is conducted following strict health regulations by Sri Lanka Athletics from December 26 to 29. Today is the third day of competition.

Another significant highlight in track events was the performance of Army’s 800m athlete Dilshi Kumarasinghe who clocked the second fastest time in Asia this season of 2 minutes 02.80 seconds in the women’s final.
She emerged national champion with Sri Lanka record holder in the women’s 800m Air Force’s Nimali Liyanarachchi clocking 2:03.20 and Navy’s Gayanthika Abeyratne (2:03.53) finishing second and third respectively.
Both are gold medalists in the international arena – Liyanarachchi winning gold in the 2017 Asian Athletic Championships in Bhubaneswar, India while Abeyratne struck gold at the Asian Indoor Athletic Games held in Turkmenistan.