Indians dominate
on day one
Bernard Perera
The inaugural South Asian Junior Athletic Championship got under way
yesterday at the Sugathadasa Stadium under the patronage of Minister of
Sports Bandula Basnayake.
On day one with thirteen events competed, India managed to take the top
spot with ten golds, six silver and three bronze medals, while Sri Lanka
ended the day winning three golds, six silver and five bronze medals.
The two countries to win medals are Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The most interesting event was the 4x400m relay for boys which India won
after a thrilling affair. Sri Lanka were in front during the first lap
with Indian runner chasing all the way, both handed over the baton
almost at the same moment. But it was the Lankan lad who made a quite
impression with a good run but baton change proved very costly in this
lap and the Indian taking advantage out of this moved ahead an increased
the lead making things easy for the final lap runner. Though Sri Lanka
lost here it was a good performance by the quartet except for the fault
in the second lap. The 200m boys event saw another young lad Shehan
Ambepitiya came out with a trilliant performance to win the same
clocking a time of 21.91 secs. ahead of Pakistan’s Ali Amir Murad who
clocked a poor 22.07 secs. another Lankan lad R. Ashan Hasaranga took
the second runner-up position with a time of 22.50 secs.
But in the girls 200m it was India’s Arulappa Jessey who crossed the
first clocking 25.32 secs. with Sri Lanka’s J.A.N.S. Jayasinghe a close
second with 25.39 secs.
Dewni Madurapperuma (12.42m) won a bronze for Sri Lanka competing in the
putt shot her compatriot to M.S.K. Weerasekera 12.28 finished fourth.
The gold and the silver went to India’s Kaur Manpreet and Jakhar Neelan
respectively for their achievements 13.76m and 12.95m.
The boys long jump event too produced two medals for the host country
when Sajith Nadeeshan and K.G. Sumith Ratnayake won the silver and
bronze medals with India’s Rane Krishnakumar taking the gold.
Young G.M. Udara Silva was the next gold medal winner for the Lankans
when he went over the far at a height of 2.05m to beat Indian competitor
Chittarasu Nikhil who cleared on 2.02m.
The third gold medal for Sri Lanka was won by P.P. Serena Clarence when
she threw the Javelin for a distance of 39.42m. Her closet rival from
India could only manage 38.12m. Third place too went on India’s way when
Kispottasofia threw 36.81m.
W.K.L.A. Nimali was another Lankan who increased Lanka’s medal tally
winning the bronze medal for the 1,500m.
H.M. Sudesh Prasanna won the silver behind Kumar Sandip of India in the
5,000m. Prasanna and Sudip were in for nearly 1,000m. But Sudip pushed
ahead in a grand manner and moved swiftly right throughout the race. In
fact he overlapped all other competitor except Sri Lanka’s Sudesh
Prasanna. Sudip recorded a time of 14.35.85 secs. while Prasanna’s time
showed 15.44.47 secs.
Sri Lanka’s women quartert for the 4x400m too did well to win the
silver. They too fought hard to bring this medal for the Lankan team. It
must be noted that both relay teams proved they are a set of athletes
looking for a good future with better guidance given to them at the
correct time.
The meet will continue today at the same venue.
Javelin throw (women) final: 1. P. P. Serena Clarence (Sri Lanka) -
39.42 m, 2. Panamala Asha Mary (India) - 38.12m, 3. Kispotta sofia
(India) - 36.81 m.
High jump (men): 1. G. M. Udara Silva (Sri Lanka) - 2.05 m, 2.
Chittarasu Nikhil (India) - 2.02 m, 3. Hossain Sajib (Bangladesh) - 2.02
m.
400 m hurdles (men) final: 1. Paul Jithin (India) - 52.91, 2. Varghese
Shejil (India) - 53.62, 3. P. P. D. Sasanka Rankoth (Sri Lanka) - 54.36.
Long jump (men) final: 1. Rane Krishna Kumar (India) - 7.45 m, 2. Sajith
Nadeeshan (Sri Lanka) - 7.36 m, 3. K. G. Sumith Rathnayake (Sri Lanka) -
7.08 m.
Shot put (women) final: 1. Kaur Manpreet (India) - 13.76 m, 2. Jakhar
Neelam (India) - 12.95 m, 3. Devni Madurapperuma (Sri Lanka) - 12.42 m.
Discus throw (men) final: 1. Dinesh Kumar (India) - 54.00 m, 2. Antil
Akash (India) - 51.58 m, 3. Muhammad Arsalan (Pakistan) - 48.28 m.
200 m (women) final: 1. Arulappan Jessy (India) - 25.32, 2. J. A. N. S.
Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka) - 25.39, 3. Nanda Srabani (India) - 25.49.
200 m (men) final: 1. Shehan Ambepitiya (Sri Lanka) - 21.91, 2. Ali Amir
Murad (Pakistan) - 22.07, 3. R. P. Ashan Hasaranga (Sri Lanka) - 22.50.
800 m (men) final: 1. Prakash Verma (India) - 1:52.99, 2. A. M. E. G. K.
D. Abeysinghe (Sri Lanka) - 1:53.43, 3. Dilhan Aloka (Sri Lanka) -
1:54.45.
1,500 m women final: 121 - Dhankhar Savita (India) - 4:35.49, 2. 119 -
Simon Rajam Bindu (India) - 4:35.51, W.K.L.A. Nimali (Sri Lanka) -
4:46.32.
5,000 men final: 1. Kumar Sandip, India - 14:35.85, 2. H.M. Sudesh
Prasanna, Sri Lanka - 15:44.47, 3. Malik Vinit (India) - 16:03.74.
4 x 400 m women final: 1. Gujjala Harathi, Komal Tehlan, Mazumdar
Debashree, Chadrika Arya (India) - 3:50.27, 2. Dhanukshi Perera, R.M.
Mihirani Perera, M.M.P.G.S.K. Samaraweera, R.A.H. Nisansala (Sri Lanka)
- 3:57.62, 3. Nadia Zulifiqar, Kiran Rana, Azalfa Shafi, Tasneem Akntar
(Paksitan) - 4:33.63.
4 x 400 men final: 1. Jaspal Singh, Jithin Paul, Varghese Shejil,
Manindar Singhe, India - 3:14.56, 2. Nuwan Abeywickrama, K.T.M. Harris,
C. Saman Kumara, G.L.T. Ishara, Sri Lanka - 3:15.68, 3. Pervaiz Hussain,
Shahid Ali, Asad Manzoor, Farhan Ahmed, Paksitan - 3:32.14.
Medal tally
G S B
India 10 6 3
Sri Lanka 3 6 5
Paksitan 0 1 4
Bangladesh 0 0 1
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