Sri Lanka teams eye Asian Relay Championships after visa issues derail Olympic plans

by Reemus Fernando

After the Olympic qualifying opportunity at World Relays in Bahamas went awry due to visa issues Sri Lanka men’s 4×400 metres relay team will eye Asian Relay Championships in Bangkok later this month to grab one of the two remaining spots at Paris Olympics 2024.

Sri Lanka Athletics has finalized teams for all five relays of the Asian event which will he held on May 20 and 21 at the Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok, where the team anchored by Kalinga Kumarage established a new Asian Championship men’s 4×400 metres record last year.

Last week, Sri Lanka Athletics informed the World track and field governing body that the country would not be able to take part in the World Relays in Bahamas after US embassy in Colombo did not provide visa interview opportunities untill the eleventh hour to obtain transit visas. The US embassy invited the Sri Lanka team for vis interviews on May 2 for the May 4-5 event after media highlighted the team’s plight. The team received visas after authorities had cancelled originally booked air tickets.

The teams competing at the World Relays over the weekend in Bahamas were set to secure 14 out of the 16 Olympic spots available for the men’s 4×400 metres relay. The last two spots will be filled by the next two highest ranked teams. Sri Lanka team will now eye one of these sports when they compete against the best teams in Asia.

The men’s 4×400 metres team is the closest to reach qualifying standards for Olympics after the team comprising of Aruna Dharshana, Kalinga Kumarage, Rajitha Rajakaruna and Pabasara Niku clocked 3:01.56 seconds last year.

Sri Lanka will field five relay teams including the Asian Championship medal winning women’s 4×400 metres and 4×400 metres mixed relay teams for the event in Thailand. Although they have slim chances of qualifying for Olympics, the men’s and women’s 4×100 metres teams too will compete at the Asian event.

It will be a tough task for all relay teams at the Asian event. Even the men’s 4×400 metres team will have to be in their full strength if they are to accomplish the target as all leading Asian teams will be in their full strength to book the last two Olympic berths.

Last Friday, five Sri Lankan athletes competed at the UAE Grand Prix in Dubai with the hope of improving their ‘Road to Paris 24 Olympic’ rankings but apart from Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon who clocked 10.18 seconds to be placed third in the men’s 100 metres others could not improve on their season best performances. While Asian Games gold medallist Tharushi Karunaratne could not finish the 800 metres, Gayanthika Abeyratne finished last in the race. Nadeesha Ramanayake finished second in the women’s 400 metres. Her performance was below her season’s best achieved in Colombo.