The 18-year-old sprinter Tharushi Karunarathna creates history, winning a Gold medal in the Women’s 800m event at the Asian Games 2023 held in Hangzhou.
Karunaratna clocked a time of 2:03:20 minutes in the event to clinch the first Gold medal for Sri Lanka in the Asian Games 2023 and created history, securing a Gold medal in Athletics in the Asian Games after 21 years.
The last time Sri Lanka won an Athletic Gold medal in the Asian Games was in 2002 when legendary sprinters Susanthika Jayasinghe (100m) and Damayanthi Dharsha (400m) won Golds at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.
India’s Bains Harmilan and China’s Chunyu Wang won the Silver and Bronze medals respectively. Sri Lanka’s Gayanthika Aberathna ended at the 8th place with a timing of 2:05:87 minutes.
- Nadeesha brings home Silver to end 17-year old Athletics medal drought
- Lane Infringement rule shatters Sri Lanka’s 17-year old Athletics dream
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka secured two Bronze medals in 4 x 400m relay events in Men’s and Women’s categories.
The four sprinters Tharushi Karunarathna, Nadeesha Ramanayake, Jaydeshi Uththara and Sayuri Mendis clocked a timing of 3:30:88 minutes to set a new national record in the Women’s 4x400m event. They helped Sri Lanka win their first-ever Asian Games medal in the Women’s 4x400m event.
In the Men’s 4x400m event, Kalinga Kumarage, Aruna Darshana, Pabasara Nikhu and Rajitha Rajakaruna won the Bronze medal with a timing of 3:02.55 minutes.
Sri Lanka has won one Gold medal, two Silver medals and two Bronze medals at the Asian Games 2023.
