The Island nation ended their athletic campaign with 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze medal at the 5th Asian Indoor & Martial Art Games(AIMAG), Athletic competitions. Sri Lanka clinched three medals on the final day by increasing the overall tally to 4 medals at the Games held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
On a very successful final day for the Sri Lankan athletes, where all three competing athletes ended up on the podium, Gayanthika Abeyrathene won Sri Lanka’s only Gold Medal at the AIMAG winning the Women’s 800m final. Gayanthika’s time of 02:05.12 which brought her the Gold is a new indoor national record in the Women’s 800m. China’s Guiping Zhang was placed second while Arina Kleshchukova of Kyrgyztan took bronze. Gayanthika is also the national record holder of the women’s 800m (outdoor) event and has rejuvenated the women’s 800m alongside Nimali Liyanarachi forming a great rivalry that has benefited Sri Lankan Athletics immensley.
Nimali – Gayanthika, A rivalry to savour
After a long lapse, two female athletes are providing the local athletic enthusiast with..
Indunil Herath who already renewed the national indoor record twice in the heats and the semifinal of the Men’s 800m event ran his heart out in the final and yet again renewed the National indoor record with a time of 1:49.45 secs but had to be satisfied with a second placed finish. Qatari Jamal Hairane edged Indunil out with a time of 1:49.33 secs in the last laps of the race. Indunil was the race leader at the half way mark with a split time of 53. 24secs. It is an impressive performance by the gutsy athlete who renewed the national record every time he competed throughout the games. Iranian Amir Moradi was placed third with a time of 1:49.51secs in a very closely contested race.
Indunil Herath into record books at Ashgabat 2017
On the opening day of the athletic events at the 6th Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games..
Sri Lanka’s other medal of the day came through ace Sri lankan high jumper and Olympian national record holder Manjula Kumara when he won a bronze medal at the Men’s High Jump event clearing a height of 2.2m. Manjula did not have a great start only clearing his starting height of 2.10m in his second attempt but progressed well to clear 2.21m in 04 more jumps. Attempting 2.24m Manjula was not successful and had to be satisfied with a bronze medal where the eventual Gold medalist, Syrian Majd Eddin Ghazal established a new games record of 2.26m and the Silver Medalist Iranian Zadeh Keyvan Ghanbar equaled the game record height.
Manjula’s road to High jump Bronze
Sri Lanka won the first medal at the games when National record holder in the long Jump Amila Jayasiri leapt a distance of 7.45m to secure the Silver medal of the event. It is a great performance from the Sri Lankan Athletic team which comprised of six athletes with four ending up on the podium securing a Gold 2 Silver and a Bronze medal. Himasha Lakshan made it to the semifinal in the 60m while Vidusha Lakshani was ranked 7th overall in the Women’s triple jump.
