Team Sri Lanka emerged overall winners at the 3rd Asian Schools Cross country championship which was held on the 04th of December in Hong Kong.
The third edition of the Asian school’s cross-country championship saw 09 countries participate in the competition which was held over a course of 6 km. The young Sri Lankan Athletes competing in the under 17 age group managed to clinch the overall top honors for their performance in the respective event.
It was the first time that a Sri Lankan team took part in this competition and the coach of the team Mr. Susantha Fernando profusely thanked the Minister of Sports Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara for making it possible for the team to take part in the competition.
Sri Lanka dominated the Girls’ category of the competition securing top four positions in the race. Chamini Herath of Walala A Ratnayake CC won the race while Jayanthi Kanakaratne and Prasanthi Rathnayaka completed the podium respectively in the second and third positions. Subashini Premarathne was placed 4th, Githani Jayasinghe 7th while Hasanthi Madumali from Sujatha BV Matara who was the only female not from Walala A Rathnayake College was placed 17th in the competition. Sri Lanka won the overall trophy ahead of Thailand while the host Hongkong was placed third.
Chamindu Rathnayake of Randiwela MV Kegalle was placed 3rd in the Boys’ competition earning the only podium finish for Sri Lanka in the Boys’ segment. Harsha Karunarathne of Walala A Rathnayake CC was placed 5th while Sithum Denzil also from Walala finishing in the 6th place. Dhamiika Wijesinghe of of Randiwela MV Kegalle finished in the 8th place, Pradeep Kumara of Walala A Rathnayake CC in 15th and Kavisha Eranga of Banadaranayake MV Kalutara was placed 19th in the competition. Sri Lanka won the overall championship in Boys’ segment as well despite securing a solitary place in the podium as 4 out of the 6 contestants from the Island managed to finish in the top 10. China was placed overall second while Indonesia whose athletes Anes Pelamonia and Hendrik Marlyonda won the first and the second places in the competition had to be satisfied with overall third place in the competition.
