Relay Carnival
Sri Lankan Relay Carnival
The Relay Carnival is going to be held at the Sugathadasa Stadium. It has been organised by the Ministry of Education and actioned by the Sri Lanka School Athletic Association (SLSAA) and the Sri Lanka Athletic Association (SLAA).
The event will see 152 schools competing with both boys and girls taking part in six different age groups covering the ages of 12 up to 20.
The President of the Sri Lanka Athletic Association, Maj. General Palitha Fernando, has outlined the program of events which will see a Decathlon and a Heptathlon as well as the main Relay. He expects to see more than 2,500 athletes competing over the course of the 3 day event.
The Education Department has been key in organising the event, in the past it has given the opportunity for young athletes to show their skills. They have been allowed to develop their abilities making it easier for them to get up to a national level.
The Sri Lanka Athletic Association is expected to try very hard to make this a successful event and take this opportunity to find new, young talent with support from the Ministry of Sports.
The Sri Lankan olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe has now formally announced her retirement from athletics. She is well known throughout the country for winning Sri Lanka’s first Olympic medal since 1948 in the women’s 200m at the 2000 games held in Sydney. Her victory has been an inspiration to many young up and coming athletes in Sri Lanka and her presence at major international sporting events will be missed.
The 33 year old woman is Sri Lanka’s most successful athlete ever, she is expecting her first child later this year. In her retirement from sport she hopes to dedicate some of her time to projects with an aim to develop young Sri Lankans into skilled sports men and women.
In an interview with a leading Sri Lankan paper, Jayasinghe said her main goal now is to become a mother – “It has been a long felt dream which would finally become a reality this year. I want to get that great feeling of becoming a mother, devote some time for my child and then look at how I am going to give something back to athletics.”