Athlete Tharushi Karunaratne

Athlete Malith Yasiru

• Sri Lanka also win gold medal in the 4x400m mixed relay after defeating strong India

Tharushi Karunaratne won Sri Lanka’s first gold medal in the 800 m event at the ongoing Asian Under-20 Athletics Championship being held in Incheon, South Korea.

Tharushi recorded a time of 2:05.63 minutes in this event to take the gold, recording the eighth gold medal won by Sri Lanka in the history of the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championship.

Kazakhstan’s Nurmamet Akbayan and China’s Qin Yingying won the second and third positions, respectively. 

The final event of the day was the 4x400m mixed relay event and the Sri Lankan team managed to win the gold medal in this event as well. 

In the last lap, Sri Lanka was represented by Tharushi, while one of India’s top athletes, Mallica Heena, took up the baton for India, who suffered a setback when she lost her balance and fell. 

The Sri Lankan team recorded a timing of 3:25.41 minutes. This time was Sri Lanka’s best junior time ever and the ninth-best time by an Asian mixed relay team this year.

Malith Yasiru represented Sri Lanka in the men’s triple jump event and won the bronze medal by recording a jump of 15.82 m. The first place in the event went to Japan’s Miyao Manato who cleared 16.38 m, while the second place in the event went to China’s Ma Yinglong who recorded a jump of 16.22 m.

Oshadha Vinod Ariyawansa of Sri Lanka participated in the preliminary round of the men’s 400 m hurdles event, where he had to settle for fifth place, recording a time of 54.51 seconds.

Sri Lanka’s Dinara Bandara participated in the women’s 100 m final where she finished eighth with a time of 12.04 seconds.

Dinara Bandara and Ranindhi Pahansa, representing Sri Lanka in the women’s 200 m preliminary round, are scheduled to compete today (6).

At the end of the first day of the tournament, Sri Lanka moved up to fourth place in the rankings. By the end of the second day, Japan had managed to maintain its lead in the medal table by winning eight gold medals. China and India are in a heated battle for second place, with China’s four golds and India’s three.