Sri Lanka to send seven for World Junior Athletic meets

File photo     

By Susil Premalal   

Seven Sri Lankan athletes will be taking part in the 19th World Junior Under-20 Athletic Championship (WJAC), Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) announced.   

A total of 958 athletes from 116 countries will be taking part in this competition from August 2 to 7 in Cali, Colombia.   

Although six men and three women achieved IAAF junior qualifying, two athletes are not going since they did not participate in the final selection trial conducted by SLA.   

The athletes who were not selected are Sithm Jayasunder (400m men) of Sir John Kothalawela Vidyalaya and M.H.J. Uthara (400m) of Holy Cross College, Gampaha.   

As a result five men and two women will be taking part accompanied by two officials.   
Sri Lanka has never won a medal in the history of the WJAC.   
At the last WJAC held in Nairobi in 2021, Sri Lanka sent a seven-member team.   

Sri Lanka squad:

Men:

Kaveesha Bandara (Royal College 110m hurdles   
K.D.N. Dharshana (Ambagamuwa MV) 400m hurdles   
Hirusha Abeysekera (St Peter’s College, Colombo) long jump   
Pasindu Malshan (St Joseph’s College, Colombo) triple jump   
Rumesh Tharanga (St Peter’s College, Colombo) javelin   

Women:

Tharushi Karunaratne ( A Rathnayake MMV, Walala) 400, 800m   
Amesha Hettiarachchi (Viharamahadevi Balika< Kandy) 400m hurdles   

Officials:

Susantha Fernando (Team Leader cum coach)   
Badra Gunawardena (Lady Chaperone cum coach)