Two Sri Lankan female athletes who had lost their opportunity to compete in the 2025 Asian Youth Athletics Championships have expressed regret over the incident, claiming that the incident had made them want to give up on the sport.
Niduki Prarthana and Ayesha Sewwandi were set to compete in the women’s U-18 1500 metre event but had failed to report on time for the first call due to the fault of the accompanying officials.
The blunder saw the two young athletes being disqualified from the event, which they had had a chance of securing gold and silver medals for Sri Lanka.
Upon their return to Sri Lanka, the athletes expressed frustration and sadness over the incident.
“When we inquired from the Sri Lankan officials, they said the first call was at 6.20. But it was at 6.10. When we arrived at the location, they informed us we could not participate as we had not reported for the call. This is our first tour. We got fed up and thought we did not need to do this sport,” they said, speaking to reporters.
Despite these mishaps, Sri Lanka was able to win 01 gold medal, 03 silver medals, and 04 bronze medals in the 2025 Asian Youth Athletics Championships held in Saudi Arabia. (Newswire)