Sports

Susi dropped from top ten

by Champika Fernando
Just two weeks before the forthcoming Asian Grand Prix meet, Olympic bronze medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe found no place amongst the top ten leading sprinters in the world as the IAAF unveiled its latest edition of world ranking on May 12.

Jayasinghe, who was placed 8th in the shorter sprint last month has just managed to occupy the 11th position in the latest edition with a score of 1242.

Jayasinghe was among the top ten since August last year, after the medal-winning performance at the Asian track and filed Championships and Asian Games. She is not ranked amongst the first 50 athletes in her favourite 200m dash.

American Marian Jones tops the list with 1392 points while Zhana Block of Ukrain with 1342 points and Tanya Lawrence of Jamaica with 1337 points are in line for the second and third positions.

While Jayasinghe is losing her glory, Asian double gold medallist Damayanthi Darsha has shown some promise as she has marched forward to the 41st place from the 42nd position which she had been occupying for many months.

Darsha won the Asian Games gold in Busan last year with a record time of 51.13 seconds.

Her male partners the reigning Asian record holder Sugath Tilakaratne and promising Rohan Pradeep Kumara have been placed in the 40th and 43rd positions.

All four athletes along with hurdler Sriyani Kulawansa will compete at this months Asian Grand Prix meet, while the latter failed to earn her entry for the IAAF World track and filed Championships in France in late August this year. The second Asian Grand Prix meet will commence in Hydrebad on May 28.

Jayasinghe recently said that she would be concentrating more on the World Championships in France, than the circuit meet.


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