#Yupun
Abeykoon, 28, who holds both the 100m and 200m South Asian record, is the first South Asian and 167th athlete in history to run 100m under 10-seconds (9.96), while Sri Lanka became the 32nd country in the world to have a sub 10 second runner in the history of the 100m. He is also the first South Asian 100m runner to achieve qualification for the Olympic Games, which he did last year competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games, while he is the only South Asian 100m runner to qualify for the World Athletics Championship, a feat he achieved this year. He is now ranked 37 out of 56 athletes who are qualified by World Ranking for the championship which is set to be held from 14th of this month in Eugene, USA.
To put it in context, according to the World Bank there is a population of nearly 1.9 billion in South Asia now, which is more than 24% of the World’s population, and there’s only one athlete who has run a sub 10-second in the 100m. Also, he is the 4th fastest ever in Asia and is the fastest Asian in 2022. .
JP2021.COM