Dialog powers Army Para Games for the third year

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20th Army Para Athletic Meet will be held from the 22nd to the 24th November at the Diyagama Mahinda Rajapakshe Stadium and will be the final leg of the Army Para Games.

A total of seven hundred disabled servicemen, from across the eleven regiments battled out for top honours in 12 disciplines; Archery, Badminton, Cycling, Shooting, Table Tennis, Power Lifting, Wheelchair Marathon, Wheel Chair Tennis, Swimming, Volleyball- Sitting, Beach Volleyball, Para Rowing and Athletics. While the rest of the disciplines have been completed, the athletic competition will act as the final leg of the games.

The Army Para Games has been gestating for twenty years with the hope of giving an opportunity for servicemen incapacitated by the war. Over the years the games have evolved to include regulations of governing bodies such as the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and are conducted and limited to three primary segments; visually impaired, physically impaired and the wheel chair category. Sri Lanka Army won Sri Lanka’s first Olympic medal when Pradeep Sanjaya sprinted his way to Bronze in the 400m at the 2012 Para Olympics while Dinesh Priyantha won a bronze medal at the 2016 Para Olympic games in F40 Javelin throw. Priyantha bettered his performance managing to win a Silver medal at London World Para games earlier this year and will be looking to put on an even better performance at the upcoming competition.

Sri Lanka Army are striving towards the objective of preparing the sportsmen to achieve accolades both locally and internationally. The games are focused at strengthening their physical skills and uplifting spirits. The best performing athletes will have an opportunity to earn qualification for the national pool that will represent the country at the 2018 Asian Para Athletic Games to be held in October.

This year, there will be 5 South Korean para athletes that will take part in the Army Para athletic games with two of them being Olympic medalists. The Korean contingent are bound to provide the competition some much needed international flavour.

Dialog Axiata Plc have come forward as the Main Sponsor of the Army Para Games for the third consecutive year, having first joined hands with the competition in 2014. Dialog Axiata has been a strong proponent of Para Games in Sri Lanka, parallel to its philosophy of inclusion and empowering all segments of society to excel on the national and international stage.