The final day of the 43rd National Sports Festival (NSF) Athletic championships was worked off today (24th) at the Matara Kotawila stadium. The competition spanned over three days and worked as the grand finale of the National sports festival where the 9 provinces competed against each other in 33 separate disciplines.
Two National Athletic records and a New meet record was established in the athletic competitions through the three days. All three records were from the field events and were by women with Jaffna’s vaulting queen Anitha Jegathiwaran breaking her own record. Shanika Manoji laid claim to the Hammer throw National record on the final day while young Vidusha Lakshani established a new meet record in the triple jump.
The Western province was placed first in the Track and Field Men’s Medal tally winning a total of 32 medals which included 6 Gold, 10 Silver and 06 Bronze medals. The Central province was placed second while the Southern province was placed third. In the Women’s category, it was the hosts Sothern Province which was placed first with a medal tally of 14 medals that included 07 Gold, 04 Silver and 03 Bronze medals. Western was placed second while Sabaragamnuwa province was placed third.
The young triple jumping sensation Vidusha Lakshani who participated in the Asian Indoor Games and was placed 7th overall shook offher disappointment in Turkmenistan and came roaring with a brilliant performance in the Women’s triple jump. Lakshani established a new meet record with her jump of 13.32m and won gold for Western province while Prabodha Balasooriya and S Dulanjali of North Western won Silver and Bronze respectively.
This performance earned her the best female athlete at the 43rd National Sports Festival. Long Jumper Janaka Wimalasiri of Central province earned the best male athlete accolade for his jump of 7.83m.
The final day of the athletic competitions was set alight with the performance of Shanika Manoji who set a new national record in the women’s hammer throw with a performance of 48.08m. Ironically Ayesha Maduwanthi who held the national record previously was placed second while H. A Lakshika who held the NSF meet record was placed third. Up to the final round of the event, it was Lakshika who was in front with Maduwanthi in second place while Manoji was placed third prior to her record-breaking attempt.
Lionel Samarajeewa of Central Province collected his second gold medal, confirming that he is, in fact, the best long-distance athlete inthe country when he comfortably won the Men’s 5000m final with a time of 14.59.35. A K Tharanga of Sabaragamuwa clinched silver while G K Bandara also of Central province collected bronze. Samarajeewa won the first Gold medal of the three-day competition when he was first to the finish line in men’s 10,000m.
National record holder in the women’s 800m and Gold medalist at the recently concluded Asian indoor games, Gayanthika Abeyrtahne also collected her second gold medal when she won the Women’s 1500m with a dominant performance. Gayanthika representing the host Southern Province broke away from the leading bunch and sped away to the finish line in the final 300m. She left M.C Dilrukshi of North Western province and Nilani Rathnayake of Sabaragamuwa province to battle out for the2nd and the third places. Rathnayake who is the national record holder in the event slumped to the third spot in the home stretch which ensured Silver for Dilrukshi. Gayanthika added another Gold medal to her tally as she was also a member of the Southern Province relay team which clinched the 4X400 women’s relay. Central province came in second after a tight contest against North Western province who was placed third.
Sri Lanka’s ageless high jump wonder, Manjula Kumara who won Bronze at the Asian indoor games once again attested his authority in the Men’s High jump event winning gold clearing a height of 2.18m. Indika Udaya Kumara and D Ranatunga were placed joint second jumping a height of 2.01m. The 33-year-old Kumara has been Sri Lanka’s undisputed champion in the high jump for the last 8 years. While he is past his prime form when he created country’s national record in the event clearing a height of 2.27m, it is alarming to note that there is no one to take over from Kumara when he decides to finally hang his boots.
The fastest events of the 43rd National Sports Festival athletic competition, Women’s and Men’s 100m sprint was won by the two leading athletes of the event in the country. In the Women’s 100m final Rumeshika Rathnayake who received a special permission to take part in the final despite not taking part in the heats of the event as she was part of the official convoy to Japan alongside Nimali Liyanarachi, clocked a time of 11.74secs and won gold for the Sabragamuwa province while iron women of the heptathlon fame V Sugandhi was placed second clocking 12.03secs. S L Vidanaguruge won the bronze medal with a time of 12.18 secs.
National record holder in the Men’s 100m Himasha Eshan finally got a win under his belt winning the Men’s 100m title clocking a time of 10.76secs. Mohamed Ashraf of Eastern province had a bad start to his race and could not compensate for the delay and had to settle behind S L Wickramasinghe of the Southern province who won Silver from a fraction of a second. Wickramasinghe cocked 10.85 secs while Ashraf clocked 10.86 secs.
