Yupun and Gayanthika to compete in Birmingham today

By Susil Premalal - Reporting from Birmingham

Sri Lankan athletes Yupun Abeykoon and Gayanthika Abeyrathna will make their first appearance at the 22nd Commonwealth Games when the track and field events get underway at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England today.  

A total of 1,637 athletes from 57 countries will be competing in the track and field events with Abeykoon (Men’s 100m) and Gayanthika (Women’s 800m) set to participate in their respective first round heats.  

The Sri Lankan coaching staff yesterday revealed that they were confident that Abeykoon and Abeyrathna should be able to clear their initial hurdle quite comfortably. 

Abeykoon, the fastest athlete in South Asia, is fresh from competing at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregan in the United States, and his first target is to advance from the heats. 

“My main goal is to reach the semi-finals of the 100m event and thereafter, try to win a medal after reaching the last eight competitors,” he told the Daily Mirror. 

Abeykoon arrived in Birmingham last week after completing a successful training session in Milan, Italy well ahead of the track and field events of the Commonwealth Games.  

Sri Lanka will be fielding three Men and three Women athletes at the Commonwealth Games track and field events which conclude on August (7).  

“It is difficult for any top athlete to win at every international meet and improve on the personal best performance, but I am proud that I got this chance to compete at the Commonwealth Games after a long layoff,” Abeykoon stressed.  

However, Abeykoon failed to better his personal best of 9.96s at the World Athletic Championships, held in Oregon, US recently.   
“I did not have the best of preparations for the World Championships in the US due to an issue with my air tickets but now I am fresh after a good training programme and will try and win a medal for the country,” Abeykoon revealed.   

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) Statistic Recorder Saman Gunawardena said that Sri Lanka should be able to win at least two medals at the Commonwealth Games track and field events.  

The Director Sports of the Kelaniya University, who has been attached to SLA for the past 24 years, believes sprinter Abeykoon and Sarangi de Silva (Women’s long jump) are the potential medal winners for Sri Lanka.   
Gunawardena also stressed that Abeykoon and de Silva will have a great chance of winning a medal if some of the elite athletes are forced to keep away due to the Covid-19 pandemic.   

The Sri Lankan track and field squad includes Yupun Abeykoon, Kalinga Kumarage (Men’s 400m), Sumeda Ranasinghe (Men’s javelin), Gayanthika Abeyrathna (Women’s 800m), Nilani Rathnayaka (Women’s 3,000m steeplechase) and Sarangi de Silva (Women’s long jump).  

Kumarage was drafted into the Sri Lanka Track and Field Team in the absence of Ushan Thiwanka.   
Sri Lanka have not won a medal in track and field events at the Commonwealth Games for the past 24 years and the last occasion was in 1998 when Sugath Thilakaratne (Men’s 400m) and Sriyani Kulawansa won a Bronze Medal each.