Samanthi wins Lanka's first Taekwondo gold

Chinthana Wasala

SAG TAEKWONDO: Samanthi Liaynage won the first Tae Kwon Do gold medal for Sri Lanka in Flyweight group yesterday at the 10th South Asian Games Tae Kwon Do tournament at St. Joseph's College Indoor Sports Complex.

She beat Neela from Afghanistan restricting her to points 2-4 at the end of the three rounds. The Afghan fought well till the end with some attacking kicks and not allowing Samanthi to come up easily with points but Samanthi made good blocks to end the game in favour of her to win her first international gold medal.

Samanthi had been trained by head coach Master Lee and Master Park with Master Chong and Master Kamal Perera being her coaches at the Special Task Force where she is currently occupied.

The 25 year old girl from Weligama said that she really appreciate the support she got from The Special Task Force officials, releasing her completely for training without any interference with duties in STF.

Samiya of Pakistan and the Sangina form Nepal won the Bronze medals. In the other women's match, Jayati Pathak form India beat Pakistani Kiran in the Finweight final. The match went on very tight with 3-3 at the end of the three rounds and finally it had to go for a fourth round. Indian girl made the first move to win her gold medal. Dawa and Shafiqa from Bhutan and Afghanistan won the bronze medals.