Sri Lankan athletes hopeful of many medals

by Chinthana Wasala

The 65 member Sri Lankan athletic contingent headed by Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera arrived here in Cochi yesterday with the hope of defending 14 medals in athletics which they achieved at the 2006 South Asian Championships.

The newely selected contingent which includes some of the prominent athletes in Sri Lanka will be on track and field at the athletics extravaganza starting tomorrow.

Sri Lanka will miss the service of some outstanding individuals such as the Asian Sprinter Queen Susanthika Jayasinghe, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Sugath Thillakarathne, Manjula Kumara and Sujani Buddhika. The unfortunate injury caused to young Shehan Ambepitiya who defeated Umanga Surendra to be crowned as the country's 100m king at the selections, will not make it to the track at the Maharaja College ground.

The colonial port city of Cochi (earlier called as Cochin) is hosting their biggest sporting event after a long interval. The State of Kerala, the breeding ground for some of the greatest Indian Athletes like P.T. Usha and athletic legends like T.C. Yohannan and Suresh Babu, is in full cry to host and welcome this competition.

The newely laid Synthetic Track of International Standard at Maharaja College ground in Ernakulam which is 39km from the city centre, will host 19 events during these two days.

The State of Kerala which hails as 'God's Own Country' has much similar climate to that of Sri Lanka and will help the Lankan athletes to acclimatise well to the condition in quick time. Cochi, Wednesday