By Susil Premalal

G. Aloka of Lyceum, Wattala established a new record on the second day of the 53rd Ritzbury Sir John Tarbat Junior Athletic Championship 2024, which continued at the Kotawila Sports Complex in Matara yesterday.

Aloka stole the limelight by setting up a new record while competing in the Girls’ Under-14 600m event as she clocked 1:41.7s to erase the previous record of 1:42.6s held by K. G. M. N. Dharmapala of Sujatha BMV, Mawanella in 2023.  

Meanwhile, six new meet records were established after the second day of the championship, which will conclude today.  

The three-day tournament, conducted across three age groups—Under-12, Under-14 and Under-15—features nearly 4,000 junior athletes.

Those who set up new meet records were Dilki Karunarathna (Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo – Under-15 Girls’ shot put - 12.59m), D. Rajapaksa (Lyceum, Wattala – Under-15 Girls’ long jump - 6.04m), M. M. Rajasingha (St. Joseph’s, Colombo – Under-15 Boys’ javelin throw - 56.07m), H. A. L. Dananjaya (St. Benedict’s – Under-13 Boys’ long jump - 5.55m), A. S. R. L. S. Salgado (St. Benedict’s – Under-14 Boys’ 600m - 1:29.8s.