Sri Lanka not to send sprint relay team for Athletics Nationals

Sri Lanka will not be sending its women's 4x100m relay team for the National inter-State athletics championship, which begins in Patiala on June 25.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Sri Lankan Athletics officials had tried to send the women's 4x100m relay team to India but that did not work out.

Sri Lanka will not be sending its women's 4x100m relay team for the National inter-State athletics championship, the last qualifier for next month's Tokyo Olympics, which begins in Patiala on June 25.

“The relay team will not be coming. We will be sending a smaller team, five will be coming to India on June 23,” Prema Pinnawela, the general secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics, told Sportstar from Colombo on Friday evening.

Sri Lankan Athletics officials had tried to send the women's 4x100m relay team to India but that did not work out.

READ: Nine-member Sri Lankan team likely for Athletics Nationals in Patiala

Quartermiler Kalinga Kumarage, javelin thrower Sumedha Ranasinghe (both men), 400m runner Nadeesha Ramanayake, two-lapper Nimali Waliwarsha and 3000m steeple chaser Nilani Rathnayake (women) are the athletes who will be coming to India once they get the final clearance.

India desperately needs international relay teams to compete in the coming Nationals to improve its chances of going to Tokyo. In the 4x400m relays, the country has a confirmed berth in the mixed event and is in the 15 spot in the men's and women's sections in the Road to Tokyo rankings.

And in the women's 4x100m relay, the country is in the 22 spot. Only 16 teams are allowed in the relays at the Olympics and the qualification doors close on June 29.