Kilinochchi athlete wins bronze in Colombo athletic meet

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2004, 13:14 GMT]
Miss. Seevaratnam Tharani, student of Akkarayan Maha Vidiyalayam in Kilinochchi district, won the bronze medal for the Shot Putt event under 16 years of age in the three-day National Junior Schools Athletic Meet held in Colombo Sugathathasa Sports Stadium, which was concluded Sunday. Miss.Tharani was the only competitor who won a place in the meet from the northeast province. She participated in the national level meet as a member of the team nominated by the Kilinochchi District Athletic Association, sources said.

Bronze medal winner Miss Tharani.

Miss Tharani won the bronze medal for Putt-Shot under 12 in the 2002, 2003 annual national Schools Junior Athletic Meet. She underwent primary athletic training under coach Mr.Anton Anbalagan. Now she has been undergoing special training under a prominent athletic coach, Mr.Shanmuganathan Wijeneethan, sources said.

Mr. Wijeneethan underwent special training in athletics in India and Indonesia. He has produced two national level athletes from Trincomalee district, Mr. Ravindran Ratheesan and Mr.Thevaraja Rajan.

Mr.Ratheeshan established a record in Decathlon event in the National Athletic Meet held last year, which has not been broken yet. Mr.Rajan established a national record in the event 200 meters for students less than 16 years and that has not also been broken yet, sport sources said.