The second day of the 45th National Sports Festival concluded today (26th) with the Sabaragamuwa district winning major honours in the first set of the relays.
Gloomy conditions on Day 2 of the meet took off with the Men’s and Women’s 800m events. National champion Rusiru Chathuranga and young Dilshi Kumarasinghe claimed the championship titles of the Men’s and Women’s categories respectively.
Having a smashing season so far, Southern Province represent Chathuranga, recorded his win at the National Sports Festival with a timing of 1:53.34min while C. Aravindan and S. Bulugahapitiya came in second and third respectively.
Up and coming star Dilshi Kumarasinghe won her Gold medal in the Women’s 800m clocking 2:10.26min on the board. She was able to finish smoothly with no real competition; R. Dulakshi and M C Dilrukshi followed for Silver and Bronze.
The main events of the day were the 4x100m relays; Southern Province dominated the track in the Men’s category while in the Women’s category it was all about the Western Province ladies.
The 4x100m team comprising of Suraj Dinusha, Malin Udayakumara, Dimuthu Kumara and Chamod Yodasinghe won Gold with a comfortable lead, clocking in 41.77seconds. Eastern and Western Provinces came in after to take home Silver and Bronze respectively in the Men’s category.
Over in the Women’s category it was a dynamite quartet for Western Province, who took charge. Tharindi Heshani started off with Sadeepa Henderson and Harshani Jayakantha bringing in the juice in the middle and powerhouse Lakshika Sugandi taking the team home in the final 100m. They clocked 48.41seconds for their win.
2019 National champion from St. Sebastain’s College Moratuwa, Samith Fernando managed to clinch Gold in the Men’s Shot Putt event with a throw of 15.44m. While his national record of 16.23m was far from his performance, he did enough to clinch the title.
Eranga Janith, representing Western Province, brought home a big win in the Men’s Pole Vault event clearing a height of 4ft 50m to clinch Gold.
Gold from the Women’s Discuss throw was successfully secured by A I Madurangi of Western Province with a throw of 40.88m.
Hashini Praboda took home the Women’s Triple Jump event with a leap of 12.62m. 2019 Triple Jump National champ Vidusha Lakshani had to miss this year’s NSF due to her participation in the World Military Games, currently happening in Wuhan China.
To end the day, N D Lekamge claimed the Women’s Javelin Throw title, gaining a distance of 46.66m in her best throw.
The third and final day of the 45th National Sports Festival will be tomorrow (27) at the Badulla Vincent Dias Stadium. Keep it logged for photos, videos and match results from the meet!
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