Manjula Kumara Wijesekara won the Men’s High Jump Bronze Medal at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Manjula cleared a height of 2.24m to set a new National Indoor record, breaking the previous of 2.23m also by himself a decade ago. Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim jumped 2.35M to win the Gold Medal while Syria’s Majd Eddin Gazal leapt to a height of 2.28m to win Silver.
Manjula cleared his Bronze medal height in his second attempt while missed out the three attempts to clear 2.28m.
Nimali Liyanarachchi qualified for the final of the Women’s 800m having one of the best timings from the rest. She missed out on the automatic qualification place when she came in third but her timing of 2:09.26mins was enough for a place in the final.
Nimali ran a 2:09.40mins a week back to win the Gold Medal at the South Asian Games. However Nimali was nowhere close to her National Sports Festival Meet Record of 2:05.32mins which she set in December.
South Asian Games Gold Medalist Indunil Herath was not as lucky as he finished out of qualification in 3rd place in the Men’s 800m heat with a timing of 1:57.26mins. However he was almost 6 seconds slower than his Gold medal run of 1:51.46mins.
Sri Lanka Women’s Long Jump Champion Chamali Priyadarshani could only muster a 7th place with a jump of 6.04m. Mayookha Johnny of India who won the Gold Medal at the 2016 SAG won the Gold with a jump of 6.35m. Last December after struggling with foul jumps for a long time, Priyadarshani set a new Sri Lanka record at the National Sports Festival with a jump of 6.43m.
Eranga Dulakshi Weerasingh finished in 4th place in the Women’s 1500m with a timing of 4:37.10mins.
