Nilani Ratnayake and Lionel Samarajeewa won individual bronze as the Sri Lankan Women’s team won the overall team championship while the Men came second to India at the inaugural South Asian Cross-Country Championship which concluded today at the Royal Gold Course in Thimphu, Bhutan.
The competition held for the first time was attended by six South Asian nations in – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Maldives and the host Bhutan with Pakistan pulling out of the competition in the eleventh hour. Sri Lanka fielded a three member men’s team and a four-member women’s team. Samantha Pushpakumara, who represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Cross-country championship was not part of the Men’s team due to an injury he picked up during the Asian Cross-country championship.
Nilani & Samantha make a statement amidst some heartache
The first competition of the 44th National Sports festival, the National Cross-Country Championship was held today (18th) at the Nuwara Eliya Golf……..
Nilani Ratnayake who represented the country at the Asian Cross-country championship alongside Samantha Pushpakumara, won Bronze in the inaugural competition and led the way for the women’s team to become the overall champions with Anusha Lamahewa finishing 4th and Lakmini Anuradhi finishing 6th overall in the competition.
In the Men’s event the long-distance veteran and D L Samarajeewa won bronze earning the best place from the Sri Lankan athletes with the Champion of the 4th National Cross-Country Championship S Chandradasan finishing 4th and D. Eranda finishing 5th in the competition. Despite putting up a great show Sri Lankan men were denied the overall team gold as Indian team won Gold with the first two places going to Indian Athletes.
