Next week’s Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championship make available a rare opportunity for school athletes to get World Athletics recognition for their performances as the organisers have come in the event to be listed as a ‘F’ category event recognized by the world governing body.
It is the first time the flagship event organised by the Sri Lanka Schools Athletics Association (SLSAA) has been registered to get World Athletics recognition.
“Sir John Tarbat Senior Championship will be staged as a ‘F’ category event. We have made the essential arrangements through Sri Lanka Athletics to stage the event as a ‘F’ category event,” a senior official of SLSAA said in an interview with ‘The Island’ yesterday.
The Junior National Athletics Championship lead by Sri Lanka Athletics, All Island Schools Games Athletics Championship conducted by the Ministry of Education and the Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championship are the three major track and field events conducted for juniors.
Last year the All-Island Schools Games Athletics Championship was staged as an ‘F’ category event flagging the way for school athletes to earn World Athletics rankings.
The Junior National Championship and the All-Island Schools Games Athletics Championship were the only local events to have been registered as World Athletics ‘F’ class track and field events so far.
Ghis year’s Sir John Tarbat Senior Athletics Championship will get underway at the Sugathadasa Stadium on Monday.
According to Thiron Gamage, the secretary of the SLSAA, the four-day event is expected to attract close to 4000 school athletes.
“We are still in the process of receiving entries. We are still receiving entries by post. By morning we had registered over 3250 athletes. We expect the numbers to increase during the next few days as some of the entries are still in the post,” said Gamage.
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