Italy based Sri Lankan sprinter Yupun Abeykoon shattered his own South Asian and National Men’s 100m record with a timing of 10.15 seconds at the Meeting de Savona 2021 held in Italy on Thursday.
The 26-year-old was placed second in this meet, while Italian 20-year-old athlete Lorenzo Patta came first with a timing of 10.13s.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa was the first to greet Abeykoon on his Twitter message, which read: “Heartiest congratulations to Yupun Abeykoon who yet again renewed his own Men’s 100m South Asian and Sri Lankan record and placing second at the Meeting di Savona 2021 finals in Italy.”
In October, Abeykoon defeated the German champion Denis Almas to set up a new National and South Asian record with a time of 10.16s.
Earlier, the 100m national record and the South Asian record were held by Himasha Eshan (10.22s).
Abeykoon left for Italy on a scholarship in 2015. He anchored the Sri Lanka 4x100m Relay Team to win the Gold Medal at the South Asian Games in 2019 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
During the South Asian Games the Sri Lankan quartet comprising of Yupun, Eshan, Vinod Suranjaya, and Chanuka Sandeep were able to erase a 15-year-old record held by the Indian Team in 2004 (39.91s) by clocking 39.14s in the 4x100m relay.
Yupun continued his training in Italy even during the COVID-19 pandemic period to achieve his dream of representing Sri Lanka at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Now he needs to run under 10.05s to earn direct qualification for the Olympics.
Abeykoon hails from Pannala and studied at the Pannala National School and at St. Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa.
Presently, he is training at the Fiamme Gialle
Sports Centre in Rome, Italy under the guidance of coaches Raparelli and Licciardello.
Chamindu Sampath was his school coach until 2015.
Abeykoon earlier, represented Sri Lanka at the South Asian Junior Athletics championship in Ranchi, India in 2013, World Military Games - 4x100m (Bronze Medal in 2015 and South Asian Games - 4x100m Gold Medal in 2019.
