Sri Lankan high jump record holder Ushan Thivanka set to take part at Asian Athletic Championship which is scheduled to be held from July 12-16 at Supachalasal Stadium in Pattaya, Thailand.
Ushan Thivanka now based in Texas, USA doing his higher studies and further training to focus on Olympics while his commitment is very high in the high jump event. He narrowly missed the last Olympics in Tokyo and his aim is to qualify for the next Olympics in France 2024.
Sri Lanka Athletics Vice President G.L.S Perera has confirmed Ushan Thivanka’s availability for the Asian Championship and also he is Sri Lanka’s medal prospect at this meet.
Ushan Thivanka the 25 year old athlete this year already did three meets to achieve while he was fifth at NCAA division one Track and Field championships having 2.18m while he was first at the SEC Indoor Track and Field championships which was held last February and his achievement was 2.24m. At the Tiger Paw Invite meet Ushan Thiwanka was first with 2.25m .
However this was not Ushan Thivanka’s best achievement and he set a new National record in 2021 at Lone Star Conference Championship with 2.30m and won first place. Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) has planned to send a strong team to Asian Championship and the performances are considered for the next Asian Games in China . However Sri Lankan ace sprinter Yupun Abeykoon who is based in Italy already confirmed he is not available for the Asian Championships . SLA has an idea to consider Asian Championships performances for the Asian Games selection. The 19th Asian Games is scheduled to be held from September 29 to October 5 in China and Yupun has confirmed to Sri Lanka Athletics his availability for the Asian Games and during the Asian Championship period he is expected to take part in few European circuit meets to improve his performances. In fact Yupun won 100m bronze medal 10.14 seconds) at last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and that was the first Sri Lankan athletic Commonwealth medal after 1998 and first Sri Lankan medal for a Sprinter at Commonwealth Games. The 28 year old athlete Yupun last week won the 200m gold medal clocking 20.60 seconds at Florence Sprint Athletic meet and he is aiming to do better at the next Asian Games .
Sri Lanka Athletics official said SLA has no agreement with Yupun Abeykoon and he has arranged this meet schedule after discussion with his coach in Italy. He also met Sport Minister Roshan Ranasinghe earlier and discussed his future programs and said he has a Manager in Sri Lanka as well as Italy and they handle Yupun’s all activities. Daily News learnt that Yupun was named brand ambassadors by several Mercantile firms and earned a big amount of money and his marketing part is done by his Manager.
The athletic expert said this is very unfair as Yupun already got a salary from Sri Lanka Army and Sports Ministry already given him big money for his activities and his non availability for the Asian Championship is very unfair. Sri Lanka Sport Ministry through the National Sports Fund donated US Dollars one lakh after Yupun’s Commonwealth Games bronze medal.
Sri Lanka Cricket donated that money for the Sports Fund and 50, 500 dollars was given to Yupun as first instalment and Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohan de Silva donated the money at the Sports Ministry. However Yupun Abeykoon one time said no financial support from Sri Lanka after the meet in Europe. The sprinter Abeykoon already set up 100m new record of 9.96 seconds in 2022 July at international meet at Zurich and that was the first time South Asian athlete timed below 10 seconds in 100m event. We have no doubt Yupun Abeykoon is a very talented sprinter but he should give priority for Sri Lankan meets and this is Asian Athletic Championship and he has to get a decision to take part said an Athletic expert. Last time Yupun Abeykoon took part at Tokyo Olympics and couldn’t win a medal and his aim is next Olympics and his priority is for the European meets to improve his timing said a senior athletic coach.
Meanwhile senior official of the SLA said not like those days today athletes personal Managers do everything and organise more international meets for athletes and get money from athletes like Sri Lankan cricketers Managers and this is a very bad example.
However National athlete Gayanthika Abeyratne the 800 National record holder last week took part at two Japanese meets and won first places from both meets to collect ranking points but she went on that tour with her own money while Nilani Ratnayake (3000m steeplechase) and Aruna Dharshana (400m) also went on the same tour with their own money.
In addition Gayanthika (800m 1500m) Nilani, Aruna Dharshana, Tharushi Karunaratne (800m, 1500m), Sarangi Silva (long jump) are in good form and heading for medals at Asian Championships and Gayanthika, Aruna and Tharushi are also Asian Games medal prospects.
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