The South Asian Games medal winners arrived in the island this morning at the Bandaranayaka International Airport, after a successful campaign in Guwahati and Shillong in India.
A total of 484 athletes participated in 23 sports disciplines over a duration of 12 days starting from the 5th of February 2016 in the Northern Indian districts of Guwahati and Shillong. The Sri Lankan contingent that touched down at the island, having had a successful stint in the past two weeks, won a total of 180 medals in total at the South Asian Games including 25 golds, 60 silvers and 95 bronze. This was the country’s best ever performance in a South Asian Games after the 2006 competition that was held in Colombo.
Photo Album – SAG Medalists arrive in Sri Lanka
The athletes who arrived included Matthew Abeysinghe who was Sri Lanka’s top performer winning seven gold medals, two silver and a bronze while the Raheem sisters were the next top achievers in the swimming events as the duo bagged ten medals in total. The younger sibling Kimiko Raheem got herself four golds and one silver while breaking a new South Asian Games record. Her elder sibling Machiko Raheem bagged 5 silver medals and a bronze.
Sri Lanka were able to produce the fastest man and woman in South Asia in what turned out to be an extremely successful stint in track and field. Himasha Eshan bagged the gold medal in the 100m while Rumshika Ratnayaka ended up with the gold for the Women’s 100m. The success in the 100m circuits was followed up by Sri Lanka winning the 4X100 relays in both the men’s and women’s categories.
