Anoma Sooriyaarachchi

Anoma Sooriyaarachchi, also spelt as either as Anoma Sooriyarachchi or Anoma Suriyaarachchi, (Sinhala: අනෝමා සූරීයාරාච්චි) (born 21 March 1981) is a Sri Lankan-based track and field athlete who competes in women's 100m, 200m, 4 × 100 m relay and long jump events.[1][2][3] She is a Sri Lankan national and Asian record holder in women's 100-yard dash event. She obtained the British citizenship during her early career which was at the half way mark as a track and field athlete and now currently lives in Wales.[4]

Anoma Sooriyaarachchi
Personal information
NationalitySri Lankan British, Welsh
CitizenshipBritish
Born (1984-03-21) 21 March 1984
Alma materSouthlands College, Galle
Sport
Country Sri Lanka/ United Kingdom/ Wales
SportAthletics
Event(s)long jump, 100m, 200m, 4×100m relay

Career

After completing her education from the Southlands College, she pursued her career in athletics and took part at the 1998 Asian Junior Athletics Championships.[5] She also made her Asian Games debut in the same year representing Sri Lanka and competed in the women's long jump event. Anoma competed at her maiden World Athletics Championships in 2001.[6] She also featured in Sri Lankan squads for the 2002 Asian Games and 2002 Asian Athletics Championships.

However she felt displeasure on the selectors over her exclusion from the Sri Lankan contingent for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and left the country to pursue her athletics career in Great Britain. Sri Lankan selection committee later convinced her to take part at the 2006 Asian Games while she was in UK to compete in the 4 × 100 m relay category as a replacement for sprinter Jani Chathurangani at that time who was banned from participating in international competitions due to doping scandal.[7] However Anoma didn't participate at the event.

On 31 May 2011, during the 2011 Golden Spike Ostrava competition, she set Sri Lankan and Asian records in the women's 100yard category which was held in Czech Republic.[8]

References
  1. "Anoma SURIYARACHCHI | Profile | iaaf.org". www.iaaf.org. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. "Athletics - Anoma Sooriyaarachchi (Sri Lanka)". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  3. "Athlete Profile". www.thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  4. WalesOnline (12 February 2009). "Athletics: Record breaker Anoma is the queen of speed". walesonline. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  5. "The Sunday Times Sports Section". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  6. "Women 4x100m Relay Athletics VIII World Championship 2001 Edmonton (CAN) - Saturday 11.08". www.todor66.com. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  7. "Anoma Sooriyarachchi recalled to the national side for 2006 Asian Games". island.lk. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  8. "100y Race Heat 1 Results" (PDF). zlatatretra.cz. 31 May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2019.


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