106-member Athletic National squad announced

The Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) has announced a wider national squad of 106 athletes who have been entered to three different pools depending on their most recent performances at the local and international arena.

The three squads have been initiated with the objective of improving the standards of the athlete’s performance levels to medal winning standards at the South Asian Games and the Asian Athletic Championship which is scheduled to be held next year in Nepal and Qatar respectively. The three pools have been named as the Super Pool, Elite Pool and the National Pool with the current categories valid until the 1^st national selection trial which will be held in February next year.

24 athletes make up the Super Pool which hosts the best medal prospects at the International competitions followed by 21 athletes in the Elite Pool and 61 athletes in the National Pool. It is encouraging to note that the AASL has included junior and youth athletes who managed to break into world rankings to provide them with a platform to excel and develop into stars that could make a name in international competitions.

Royalist, High Jumper Seniru Amarasinghe whose currently ranked fourth in the world in youth rankings for his leap of 2.14m and the Junior Asian Gold Medalist in the 3000m Steeple Chase, Parami Wasanthi Maristtella who is ranked third in the world in youth rankings are the two notable young athletes to have been added into the Super Pool due owing to their tremendous positions in the world Junior and Youth systems.

General Palitha Fernando, President of the AASL speaking exclusively to ThePapare.com mentioned that the AASL has recommended to the Ministry of Sports to provide financial assistance to the Super Pool and the Elite Pool while they have suggested supplying meals to the members of the National Pool. General Fernando went on to state that if the athletes of the National Pool are training away from the capital the AASL has proposed a meal allowance to be handed to the athletes. He also went on to add that despite not winning any medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, the quality of track and field athletes in the country has improved vastly in the past couple of years and through the initiated National squad the AASL is looking at intensifying the current crop of athletes to lift their performance to the next level.

Super Pool

Eligibility criteria –

1. The Athletes who finished within 1 – 6 pos. at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games
2. The Athletes who have achieved 1100 points (according to IAAF scoring) during the period of 01^st January to 10^th September 2018 (Wind assisted performances not considered)
3. The Athletes ranked- 1 – 100 in the IAAF World ranking list/ 1-50 in Junior rankings or 1-10 in the Youth rankings.

Elite Pool

Eligibility Criteria – 

 A . The Athletes who represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games 2018

B . The Athletes who have achieved 1100 points (according to IAAF scoring) during the period of 01^st January to 10^th September 2018 (Wind assisted performances not considered 

National Pool

1. The Athletes who were placed 1^st in each event at the National Athletics Championships 2018 conducted by the AASL.
2. The best performer (apart from National Champion) of each event during the period of 01^st January to 10^th September 2018 (Wind assisted performances not considered)