Sri Lanka secures nine medals at Inter-State Athletics Meet

On Jun 30, 2021

The Sri Lankan Athletics Team produced a fine performance to win one Gold Medal, four Silver Medals and four Bronze Medals at the 60th Inter-State Athletics Championships, which concluded at Patiala, India on Tuesday.

The best performance at this meet probably came from Sri Lankan sprinter Kalinga Kumarage who took the Gold Medal in the Men’s 400m event with a time of 45.73s.

Kumarage continued with his excellent form and went on to bag the Silver Medal in the Men’s 200m event with a time of 21.13s.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s new sensation Medhani Jayamanne stole the limelight by winning the Silver Medal in the Women’s 200m event with a time of 24.08s.

Her success also had a great amount of significance as the 18-year-old schoolgirl from Lumbini MV qualified to compete at the World Junior Athletics Meet in Kenya.

The niece of Olympic Medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, and coached by Umanga Surendra, was able to clear the qualifying mark of 24.35s with a personal best performance.

Earlier, Jayamanne also ran in the Women’s 4X100m relay and helped Sri Lanka to win the Silver Medal with a time of 44.55s.

Amasha de Silva, Shelinda Jansen and Lakshika Sugandi were the other members of the Women’s Relay Team with Safia Yamic as the fifth competitor. In fact, this effort by the Sri Lanka Women’s Relay Team is the fastest time recorded in 19 years since 2002 and also the fifth fastest all time.

Sri Lanka’s previous timings in the Women’s 4X100m relay events were: 43.89s (Edmonton – 2001), 44.23s (Jakarta – 2000), 44.25s (Manchester 2002), 44.51s (Sydney – 2000) and 44.71s (Kathmandu – 1999).

In addition, Sri Lanka Women’s sprinter Amasha de Silva also won the 200m Silver Medal with a time of 11.59s.

Nimali Liyanarachchi (800m) and Lakshika Sugandi (100m hurdles) won Bronze Medals in their respective events.

Nilani Ratnayake, who has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games, had to be satisfied with the Bronze Medal in the Women’s 3,000m steeplechase event with a time of 10 minutes 12.02s.

Former Sri Lanka Olympian Sumedha Ranasinghe also had to be content with the Bronze Medal in the Men’s javelin throw with a performance of 77.28m.

Sri Lanka’s performances at the Inter-State Athletic Championships in Patiala:

Lakshika Sugandi: 100m Bronze Medal (13.90s), Amasha de Silva: 100m Silver Medal (11.59s), Kalinga Kumarage: 400m Gold Medal (45.73s), Nimali Liyanarachchi: 800m Bronze Medal (2.05.69s), Kalinga Kumarage: 200m Silver Medal (21.13s), Sumedha Ranasinghe: javelin throw Bronze Medal (77.28m), Medhani Jayamanne: 200m Silver Medal (24.08s), Nilani Ratnayake: 3,000m steeplechase Bronze Medal (10.12.02s) and Women’s 4x100m relay: Silver Medal 44.55s.