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| December 20, 2001 | Thursday | Shawwal 4, 1422 |
Sprint queen to retire after assault
COLOMBO, Dec 19: Sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe, who last year won Sri Lanka’s first Olympic medal for more than 50 years, announced her retirement on Wednesday after alleging she was assaulted at the country’s Sports Ministry.
The Olympic bronze medallist, who has been at constant loggerheads with the country’s sporting authorities, said she was attacked at a Sports Ministry gymnasium in Colombo on Wednesday by a male athlete.
“I will never run again. I’m going to retire because I’m sick of this,” Jayasinghe told Reuters. “I can’t live with the death threats and the abuse.”
Police at the Cinammon Gardens police station in Colombo confirmed that a complaint had been made.
Jayasinghe, whose third place finish in the 200 metres in Sydney last year gave the island its first Olympic medal since 1948, said she would make an official announcement about her retirement at a news conference on Thursday.
The 26-year-old said she suffered a leg injury and bruises during the alleged assault. She also added that she had received death threats ever since a parliamentary election on December 5.
Jayasinghe is Sri Lanka’s only world-class athlete with a string of international honours, including the 200 metres silver medal at the 1997 Athens world championships.
But her meteoric rise from poor rural girl to national heroine has been dogged by controversy, including a failed dope test.—Reuters
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