103rd National Senior Athletics Championships: Romesh, Nadeesha take top honours

By Susil Premalal

Romesh Tharanga of the Sri Lanka Air Force and Nadeesha Ramanayake of the Sri Lanka Army emerged as the top athletes at the 103rd National Senior Athletics Championships, held under the direction of Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA). The event concluded yesterday, with both athletes earning the titles of Best Male and Best Female Athlete for their outstanding performances.

Romesh Tharanga secured the top male athlete title after achieving a remarkable throw of 82.36 metres in the men’s javelin event. Meanwhile, Nadeesha Ramanayake, known for her consistency in the 400-metre category, finished the race in 52.80 seconds, earning her the best female athlete title.

Adding more energy to the sprint events, Army athletes Chamod Yodasinghe and Amasha de Silva were crowned the fastest man and woman of the championships, clocking 10.4 seconds and 11.79 seconds, respectively, in the 100-meter finals.

Although this year’s meet was intended to serve as a qualifying event for the IAAF World Athletics Championship 2025 (to be held in Tokyo from September 13–23), none of the participating athletes, except Olympian Sumedha Ranasinghe, managed to meet the qualification standards. Ranasinghe had previously secured qualification in the men’s javelin throw. Another notable performance came from Madushani Herath of the Sri Lak Sports Club, who clinched double golds in the women’s triple jump (13.16m) and long jump (6.14m), marking her as one of the most successful female field athletes of the competition.

Interestingly, this championship marked the final athletics meet under the current SLA administration. A special highlight was the presence of Prema Pinnawala, former long-serving secretary of both SLA and the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL), who attended as the chief guest.