The South Asian U20 Athletics Championships is a recurring athletics competition between under-20 athletes from South Asian nations. The event, first held in 2007, was formerly known as the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships.
The competition serves as a regional complement to the biennial, continental Asian Junior Athletics Championships. [1]
At the 2018 edition, seven countries participated, including Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh. [2] [3]
| Ed. | Year | Venue | City | Dates | No. of events | No. of athletes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2007 [4] | Sugathadasa Stadium |  Colombo | 29–30 November | ||
| 2nd | 2013 [5] | Birsa Munda Sports Complex |  Ranchi | 10–12 November | ||
| 3rd | 2018 [6] | Sugathadasa Stadium | Colombo | 4–5 May | ||
| 4th | 2024 [7] | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium | Chennai | 11–13 September | 30 | 173 [8] |
Deshabandu Kameradin Susanthika Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan retired sprinter, who specialised in the 100 and 200 metres. She won the Olympic silver medal for the 200m event in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the second Sri Lankan to win an Olympic medal after Duncan White and the first Asian woman to win an Olympic or World Championship medal in a sprint event. She is also the only Asian athlete to have claimed an Olympic medal in sprint events. She is also the first and only Sri Lankan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships. Her silver medal achievement at the 2000 Sydney Olympics also stood as the only Olympic medal for a South Asian in athletics event for 21 years before Neeraj Chopra's gold medal achievement at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is fondly nicknamed as the Asian Black Mare. She has represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1996, 2000 and 2008. She is considered one of the most decorated sprinters in Sri Lanka. However, she is also a deemed as a controversial figure in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka national football team represents Sri Lanka in Association football and is administered by Football Federation of Sri Lanka, the governing body of football in Sri Lanka. They have been a member of FIFA since 1952 and a member of AFC since 1954. Sri Lanka's home stadium is the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo. The Sri Lankan team was known as the Ceylon national football team until 1972 when Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka.
Deshabandu Kobala Vithanage Damayanthi Dharsha-Kobalavithanage is a retired Sri Lankan athlete who competed in the 200 and 400 metres race events. She is the current Asian Games record holder in women's 200m event and current Asian Athletics Championships record holder in women's 400m event as well as national record holder in women's 400m. She is regarded as one of the greatest track and field athletes to have represented Sri Lanka at international level alongside her teammate Susanthika Jayasinghe. She is also regarded as the most successful Sri Lankan athlete at the Asian Games with a medal haul of four medals including three gold medals and became the first Sri Lankan female athlete to clinch three Asian Games gold medals. She represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1992, 2000 and 2004. She also represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games on four occasions in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 as well as at the South Asian Games on four occasions.
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The men's high jump at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 11 and 13 July.
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Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra is an Indian track and field athlete. Considered as the greatest Indian javelin thrower, he's a double medalist at the Olympics, World Championships, and the Asian Games. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics, becoming the first Asian javelin throw athlete to do so. He became the first Asian to win the javelin gold medal at the World Athletics Championships after his win in 2023. Chopra has won gold medals in every major tournament. He has a streak of having a podium finish in 23 consecutive competitions, dating back to 2020. Since his 2016 performance, he holds the junior javelin throw world record with 86.48 m.
Kyle Abeysinghe is a Sri Lankan national swimmer who has represented his country at several international competitions. Domestically, Abeysinghe holds numerous national records, has been a national champion multiple times, and is a member of the Killer Whale Aquatic Club, coached by his father, Manoj Abeysinghe. At the 2017 Youth Commonwealth Games in Nassau, Bahamas, Abeysinghe won two silver medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle, becoming the only Sri Lankan swimmer to achieve this feat.
Nimali Waliwarsha Konda Liyanarachchi is a Sri Lankan 800 m runner and current national record holder in women's 1500m event. She is also believed to be the first Sri Lankan woman to have competed in steeplechase events. She became the first Sri Lankan woman to complete the distance of 3000 metres in steeplechase event under 11 minutes. She won the best athlete award twice at the Presidential award ceremonies by the Sports Ministry including the Most Outstanding Sportswoman of the Year in 2015. She is currently attached to Sri Lanka Air Force.
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The 2018 World U20 Championships in Athletics, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors which was held at Tampere Stadium in Tampere, Finland on 10–15 July 2018. The championships were originally awarded to Tampere by the IAAF in March, 2016.
Sri Lanka participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 6 October to 18 October 2018.
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Abeykoon Mudiyansalage Yupun Priyadarshana, known as Yupun Abeykoon, also referred to as Yupun Priyadarshana, is a Sri Lankan track and field athlete and a national record holder in men's 100m, men's 200m and in men's indoor 60m. On 3 July 2022, he became the first South Asian to break the 10-Second barrier for the men's 100 meters event at the Resisprint International competition, with a timing of 9.96 seconds, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He currently resides in Italy as he went on a scholarship to Italy in 2015. He is also attached to the Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army and represents Army Sports Club. He is currently regarded as the fastest Sri Lankan man as well as fastest South Asian man in men's 100m and 200m disciplines.
Kotambewaththe Gedara Dilshi Maheesha Shyamali Kumarasingha also simply known as K. G. D. M. S. Kumarasinghe or Dilshi Kumarasinghe aka Shyamali Kumarasinghe is a Sri Lankan track and field athlete and a national record holder in women's 800m. She is currently coached by Susantha Fernando.
The 2023 Asian U20 Athletics Championships was the 20th edition of the international athletics competition for Asian under-20 athletes, organized by the Asian Athletics Association. Athletes born between 2004 and 2007 competed in 45 events, divided evenly between the sexes, and one mixed event. The competition took place over four days from 4–7 June at the Yecheon Stadium in Yecheon, South Korea.
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