Nimali awarded by Air Force for her outstanding feats in 2019 

by Reemus Fernando  

Olympian Nimali Liyanarachchi was awarded the Flight Lieutenant Priya Abeyweeragunawardana Memorial Trophy for her outstanding performances in track and field in 2019 at the Air Force Colours Awards Ceremony held at the Eagle’s Lakeside Banquet and Convention Hall last week. The women’s 800 metres specialist holds the rank of Corporal in the Air Force. Liyanarachchi was among the top national track and field athletes in the year 2019.

Her outstanding performances in 2019 included a second-place finish at the Asian Grand Prix Series in Chongqing, China and a record-breaking performance in the women’s 4×400 metres relay.

At the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, Nimali joined Upamali Rathnakumari, Nadeesha Ramanayake and Dilshi Kumarasinghe to establish a new national record in the women’s 4×400 metres relay. They clocked 3:35.06 seconds to erase the record held by Nimmi De Soysa, B.G. Chandralatha, Swarnamali Edirisinghe and Olympian Dhamayanthi Dharsha.

In 2019 Nimali also came almost close to regaining the 800 metres national record with a feat of 2:02.65 seconds. She broke the longstanding (since 1992) national 800 metres record of Dhammika Manike established in 2016 (2:03.5) before Gayanthika Abeyratne took it under her name in 2017.

The athlete from Sooriyawewa took to athletics when she was a teenager and excelled in several track disciplines before settling for the 800 metres.

Nimali was destined for more glory in 2019 but a road accident on the eve of her departure for the Kathmandu South Asian Games kept her bedridden for months. However, despite being away from competitions for more than a year Nimali fought her way back to be among the top Sri Lankan female athletes once again in the Olympic year. Nimali was among many sportsmen and women who were felicitated for their outstanding performances at the Air Force Colours Awards Ceremony.