The US based Sri Lankan athlete Ushan Thiwanka Perera moved further closer towards Olympic Qualification when he set up a new South Asian and Sri Lanka high jump record at the 2021 Lone Star Conference Outdoor Track and Field Meet worked off in Texas yesterday.
The 23-year-old athlete representing the Texas A and M University-Commerce, established the record with an effort of 2.30 meters and secured first place in the Men’s high jump event at this outdoor championships. Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka Athletic (SLA) President Major General (Retired) Palitha Fernando were the first to congratulate Thiwanka over the phone following his heroics.
 Ushan Thiwanka celebrates |
The Athletic Chief said, “Thiwanka is now more confident of reaching the Olympic standards after these performances. He has already started training for his next event and I am sure he will make it to the top 12.”
The World Athletics has set a very high qualifying standard of 2.33m for the Tokyo Olympics.
While 12 athletes will be selected from qualifying standards, 20 other athletes reaching top World Rankings will be eligible for the Olympics.
Earlier, in March, Thiwanka shattered the long-standing Sri Lanka high jump record of 2.27m which was set by Manjula Kumara Wijesekera in 2004 and also had equalled the record in 2005.
The former schoolboy of Maris Stella College set up this record with a leap of 2.28m and now he has renewed his own record with this performance (2.30m).
He had previously set a new Sri Lanka indoor high jump record of 2.26m.
Thiwanka who left the country on a scholarship last year to Texas A and M University-Commerce, has also achieved Sri Lanka’s Elite National Pool Qualification mark of 2.22m, which qualifies him to be included in the Elite National Pool as well as in the top high-performance pool of the Sports Ministry. Thiwanka started his athletics career at Karunaratne Buddhist School in Ragama and was able to develop his skills at Maris Stella College under the guidance of his coach Sanarath Fernando.
Thiwanka of course, had a difficult childhood while growing up as both his parents suffered from polio.
However, that did not stop him from achieving great heights in his life, and he is now a step closer to his Olympic dream.
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