Manjula narrowly misses Olympic qualification

94^th edition of the National Athletic Championships which will be held from the 08^th to the 10^th of July 2016 at the Diyagama Mahinda Rajapakse stadium commenced -yesterday with a total a host of events having worked out.

The opening day was an eventful one with a total of 5 finals being held. It was a rather frustrating one for Sri Lanka’s ace high jumper Manjula Kumara who was crowned the national High jump  champion with a best jump of 2.24M but was left kicking his himself as he missed out on the Olympic Qualification mark of 2.29M. It is unfortunate that lack of competitions has been the biggest setback to this 2004 Athens Olympians’ hopes to make it to RIO 2016.

Nilani Rathnayake from Sri Lanka Army defended her 3000M Steeple chase national title but could not better her performance of last year’s competition which accounts for the national record. Sarangi Silva also from Sri Lanka Army claimed gold in the Long jump event with a leap of 6.04M. T.M Azik  managed to secure another top spot becoming the National discus throw champion . Airwomen Ayesha Maduwanthi emerged the Women’s Hammer throw champion while Nalini Ariyadasa became victorious in the Women’s 10000M race.

Refer attached result sheet for a detailed record of the event.