Sri Lanka’s star sprinter Yupun Abeykoon and Nadeesha Ramanayake ended in third and second places respectively at the Dubai Grand Prix Athletics Championship on Friday at the Dubai Police Stadium, United Arab Emirates making the duo still uncertain of Olympic qualification.
Yupun Abeykoon finished third in the men’s 100m race with a time of 10.18 seconds. Although this timing is insufficient to qualify for the Paris Olympics he will have to compete in a few more events and win with improved timings to qualify.
There is time until June 30 to prove his qualification levels by competing in a few more meets during this period.
Italy’s Chitharu Ali finished first in the men’s 100m race in Dubai in a time of 10.18 seconds, a competition record.
Nadeesha Ramanayake who participated in the women’s 400m race, completed the event in 54.01 seconds and secured second position falling short of the Olympic qualifying time of 50.95 seconds.
Nadeesha too has time to come up to the qualifying time by participating in a few more international competitions before the deadline of June 30. There will be two meets to be held in Japan that will give both Abeykoon and Ramanayake some hope of qualifying for the Olympics.
Sweden’s Lisa Laila finished first in the women’s 400m event in 53.41 seconds which was a competition record. (TBR)
