Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon, South Asia’s fastest sprinter, wants to inspire kids like Neeraj Chopra
Yupun Abeykoon is the only athlete from South Asia to have clocked under 10 seconds in the men’s 100m sprint.
Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw gold at the Tokyo Olympics is not only inspiring youngsters from India but has also provided other South Asian athletes with a roadmap to follow.
Sri Lanka’s Yupun Abeykoon is one of the big names from the region looking to emulate the Neeraj Chopra-effect in his own country.
On Sunday, Yupun Abeykoon, competing at the Resisprint International meeting in Switzerland, won the men’s 100m sprint clocking 9.96s and became the first runner from South Asia to clock below 10 seconds.
“When Neeraj won the Olympic medal, he became a role model in India. I want kids to be inspired by me as well,” Yupun Abeykoon, who started off as a triple jumper, told Sportstar.
“Neeraj Chopra was of course the first South Asian to win an Olympic gold. Children dream of breaking Neeraj Chopra’s record. I also hope that some kids break my record too,” the Lankan sprinter added.
While the Sri Lankan broke the 10m-barrier only on Sunday, the performance graph of the 27-year-old Yupun Abeykoon was improving significantly in the last couple of years.
Yupun Abeykoon had clocked 10.16s to break the South Asian record in 2020 and later improved it with the timing of 10.06s in Germany earlier this year. India’s national record in 100m stands at 10.26s created by Amiya Kumar Mallick back in 2016.
Last year, Yupun Abeykoon became the first South Asian in 32 years to qualify for the men’s 100m race at the Olympics.
“I started my career in 2004…At that time, there was a lot of demand for athletics because we had won medals at the world level. As a result, it gave me good motivation to run,” Yupun Abeykoon, who clocked 10.32s at the Tokyo Olympics, said.
However, over the next decade, Sri Lanka’s performance on the world stage did not improve considerably, which led Abeykoon to look elsewhere for inspiration.
“Once I started seriously, there wasn’t anyone at a good level. As a result, I had to be inspired by athletes from outside Sri Lanka,” Yupun Abeykoon noted.
Both Neeraj Chopra and Yupun Abeykoon competed at the Stockholm Diamond League last month. While Neeraj Chopra won silver with a national record throw of 89.94m, Yupun Abeykoon clocked 10.21s in the men’s 100m race and missed out on a bronze by 0.02s.
Neeraj Chopra and Yupun Abeykoon will also be seen in action at the World Athletics Championships 2022 to be held in Oregon, the USA, from July 15 to 24.