NSC and HPC played a major role in Para athletes success, says Wijekoon

On Sep 9, 2021

The Secretary of the Sports Ministry Anuradha Wijekoon said that the National Sports Council (NSC) and High Performances Committee (HPC) played a major role in the success of the Para athletes at the recently concluded Paralympics in Tokyo. HPC recognized 58 athletes based on their performance and NSC recommended to give facilities to them from last January and Para athletes were among the selected athletes.

The seven Para athletes out of nine member team were able to gve of their best at the Tokyo Games. Two medal winners Dinesh Herath and Samitha Dulan did their personal best while Kumudu Priyanka the only woman athlete of the team finished ninth in her long jump event with personal best while 400m athlete Maduranga Subasinghe and Javelin Thrower Sampath Heetiarachchi also finished with ninth places in their respective events . Palitha Jayakody was placed fifth at Shot Putt event while Mahesh Jayakody was ranked 12 at Rowing. The Secretary also said none of the athletes at the Tokyo Olympics could reach at least their personal best.

Secretary of the Sports Ministry Anuradha Wijekoon

Actually our Throwing coach Paradeep Nishantha produced best results and he proved his ability better than International coaches at this stage and we really appreciated the coaches at this time “

“The recommendation of the NSC the selected athletes received Rupees one lakh monthly allowance with 25, 000 rupees nutrition allowance to build up their skills from last January and this was a huge success added Secretary Wijekoon. We wanted to get athletes focus mainly on their events with these facilities. The Sports Development Department headed by Director General Amal Edirisooriya coordinated with National Paralympic Committee to make arrangements for the athletes

For the first time Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa provided business class facilities for the athletes and best Hotel accommodation before this Tokyo tour and it was a big boost for the athletes “

The seven Para athletes finally got chance to finish among the first 16 places and Sports Ministry already decidedo give them cash awards and more than 105 million rupees allocated for Para athletes and their coaches after Cabinet approval said Secretary of the Sports Anuradha Wijekoon.

SL Para athletes’ performance at Tokyo Paralympics

Dinesh Priyantha (F46 Javelin Throw) – Gold Medal (World Record) – 67.79m

Samith Dulan (F44 Javelin Throw) – Bronze Medal – 65.61m

Palitha Bandara (F63 Shot Put) – 5th – 13.40m

Kumudu Priyanka (T46 Long Jump) – 9th – 4.92m; 100m – 15th -13.31 sec

Maduranga Subasinghe (T47 400m) – 9th overall 51.08 sec

Sampath Hettiarachchi (F64 Javelin Throw) – 9th – 49.94m

Mahesh Jayakody (Rowing) – 12th