Tharushi pulls out of Osaka Olympic Qualifiers

Tharushi Karunarathna

By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka suffered another setback in their attempt to obtain Paris Olympic qualification when Hangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Tharushi Karunarathna pulled out from yesterday’s 11th Kinami Michitaka Memorial Athletic Meet in Osaka, Japan. 
Tharushi, who had earlier withdrawn from the Women’s 800m event at the Dubai Grand Prix in the UAE, decided not to participate in her pet event on medical advice due to food poisoning.
This event was held as an Olympic Qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France. 
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Kalinga Kumarage finished first in the Men’s 400m event with a time of 45.92s, although the Olympic Qualification standard is 45.00s.
Kumarage is now set to compete in the Seiko Grand Prix event in Tokyo, Japan, on May 19.
In addition, Nadeesha Ramanayake had to settle for fourth place in the Women’s 400m event with a time of 54.02s. The Olympic Qualification standard for this event is 50.95s.