Lanka's Susanthika out of 100m

Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka's fastest woman, made a surprising exit from the women's 100m event at the World Athletics Championship in Paris, France, on the opening day today.

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Jayasinghe had qualified quite easily for the quarterfinals earlier in the day with a timing of 11.20s, her best of the season, to come third behind Zhanna Block of the Ukraine (11.13s) and Ekaterini Thanou of Greece (11.09s).

But Jayasinghe, who has a personal best of 11.04 seconds in the event, failed to finish in the third heat of the quarterfinals.

Leading those who qualified for the semifinals on Sunday were Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas (10.98s), Kelli White of the USA (10.96s), and Block, Christine Arron of France, and Torri Edwards of the US (11.08s). Former champions Gail Devers of the US and Merlene Ottey of Slovakia also qualified for the semis. Devers clocked 11.16s while the 43-year-old Ottey did 11.31s.