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Tharanga Vinodhani steals the limelight on the first day

SPORTS FESTIVAL: Competitors from Western Province dominated in most of the events but a Southern Province athlete accounted for the solitary Games record on the opening day of the XXXIInd National Sports Festival which began in Colombo yesterday.

The three-day prime event in the domestic sports calender is organised by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Athletics

Tharanga Vinodhani, a woman soldier of SLA, won the women's high jump gold medal, clearing 1.72 metres. She erased the previous Games record of 1.71m held by R.K.A.P. Madumanthi last year.

In the absence of South Asian Games gold medallist Dulanjalee Ranasinghe due to an injury, Vinodhani did well to push the Games record holder Madumanthi (1.70) for the second place.

"I am happy that I was able to go for the Games record. I achieved this despite a leg injury. If not, I would have gone for the Sri Lanka record," she said. The Army lass narrowly missed the Sri Lanka record of 1.75m jointly held by Sriyani Kulawansa and Lahiruni Peiris.

Long jumpers from Western Province made a clean sweep winning all three medals - Nandika Fernando (7.46m - gold), Suresh Kumara (7.41 - silver) and N.P. Dharmaratne (7.23 - bronze).

The gold medal in men's 4 x 100m relay too went to the Western Province. The WP team clocked 41.09 seconds to finish ahead of Uva (42.31 - silver) and North Western (42.49 - bronze).

South Asian Games medallist M. Ajanthan of Central Province clocked 30 minutes, 40.21 seconds to secure the first place in men's 10,000m final, ahead of Colombo 2006 SA Games marathon gold medallist Ajith Bandara of NWP, who finished second with 30:44.11. Uva's Saman Kumara won the bronze in 30:58.01.

In the women's 5,000m, D.A. Inoka of Central Province bagged the gold in 17 minutes and 00.40 seconds. J.H.A.T.S. Jayasekera (Southern - 17:07.59) and Lakmini Anuradha (Central - 17:27.89) won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The men's shot putt gold went to North Western Province as W.L.U.R. Perera threw a distance of 14.53m. In the second place was Southern Province's Thushara Sampath with 13.18.

South Asian Games gold medallist Padma Nandani Wijesundara had an impressive 42.75m to win women's discus throw gold. E.A.M. Edirisinghe (NWP) won the silver in 39.74m, ahead of J.G.A. Galhena (CP - 38.46).

Swimming

Western Province swimmers won three of the five finals worked off at the Sugathadasa Stadium pool yesterday.

In the absence of elite overseas-based swimmers who bagged gold and silver medals at the recent South Asian Games, it was the other local national poolists who made their mark. Madura Gayan (WP) completed a golden double.

He clocked 18 minutes, 19.61 seconds to win the men's 1,500m free style gold medal, ahead of his team mate Dasun Perera (19:02.45). Gayan also emerged victorious in men's 800m freestyle final, returning a timing of nine minutes and 43.26 seconds.

In the second place for the silver was S.K. Hulangamuwa of Central Province with 9:34.87.

In the women's events, Devika Gunatillake of Western Province won the gold medal in 400m freestyle with a timing of five minutes and 11.67 seconds. Settling for the silver was Sydney Nanayakkara (WP) in 5:26.71.

The other two swimming finals were won by H. Weeratunga of Central Province (800m freestyle women - 10:38.42) and Heshan Unanboowe of Central (200m backstroke men - 2:21.00). The silver medals of the respective events were won by Imara Shahim (WP) and Dharshana Tennekoon (WP).

Hockey

Western Province qualified to play Central in the women's hockey final when they won their respective semi finals played at Torrington grounds.

In the semis, Central thrashed Southern Province by 14 goals to nil while Western had the better of Uva 6-0.

The NSF hockey final will be played at Reid Avenue turf tomorrow, commencing from 2.30 p.m.

Netball

Central, Southern, Western and North Western Provinces won their respective matches of the NSF netball tournament matches worked off at Torrington grounds.

Southern beat Uva 69-25, Western beat Sabaragamuwa 83-24, North Western beat North Central 57-13 while Central received a walk over from North East Province.

Table tennis

Central Province entered both men's and women's team event finals. They won their respective semi finals of the NSF worked off at S.Thomas College indoor stadium.

In the men's semi finals, Western beat NWP by three matches to nil while Central had a smashing three matches to nil win over Southern Province in the other semi final.

Southern beat NWP 3-1 while Central beat Western 3-0 in women's TT semi-finals played last evening.

Badminton

Western province made their way to both men's and women's finals of the NSF badminton team championship. In the men's championship, Southern beat North Central by three matches to nil while Western Province beat Central Province 3-2.

The women's semi finals saw Western beating Central 2-1 while North Central having the better of Southern 2-1.

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