South Asia’s fastest man Yupun Abeykoon will spearhead Sri Lanka’s campaign for an athletic medal in the XXII Commonwealth Games when he starts in the 100 metres at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham today.
Abeykoon will be the first to get off the blocks in athletics for Sri Lanka with three 100m heats scheduled to commence at 10.40 a.m. (2.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time) followed by the women’s 800m heats featuring Gayanthika Abeyratne.
The cynosure of all eyes will be 27-year-old Abeykoon who won the Resisprint International meeting in Switzerland clocking 9.96 and became the first athlete from South Asia to run below 10 seconds.
Italy-based Abeykoon is going through a purple patch in his career shattering barriers with ease since clocking 10.16 to break the South Asian record in 2020 becoming the first South Asian in 32 years to qualify for the men’s 100m race at the Olympics where he clocked 10.32.
However, failed to live up to his billing at the IAAF World Athletic Championship in Oregon, USA clocking 10.19 in the heats which was not enough to qualify for the next round.
It remains to be seen whether Abeykoon will rise to the big occasion after disappointing at the Olympics and World Championships. He can take inspiration fr