Kumar Shanmugeshwaran, Anjani Pulawansha and Viroj Suranjaya won Silver for Sri Lanka in the Men’s 10000m, Women’s Long Jump and the Men’s 200m respectively on Day 3 of the South Asian Games 2019, but it was Sarangi Silva who stole the show with Gold in the Women’s Long Jump at the Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu.
Read More : Athletics schedule at SAG 2019 REVISED!
Silva, who wasn’t even on the starting list for the event, was subbed in in place of Vidusha Lakshani, who opted out of the Long Jump in order to focus on her pet event, the triple jump. Silva’s leap of 6.38m is a massive improvement on her Personal Best of 6.15m; she also narrowly missed out on the National Record which stands at 6.43m.
Her partner in the event, Anjani Pulawansha, completed Sri Lanka’s 1-2 finish with a fine 6.11m leap to claim Silver, improving her Personal Best by 2cm.
Earlier in the day, Shanmugeshwaran and Nepali athlete Deepak Adhikari went neck and neck, battling it out for the Silver, but the former managed to pull away in the home stretch to clinch 2nd place. His timing of 3:49.20 is well behind his Personal Best of 30:30.38, but Gold Medalist Suresh Kumar’s (India) performance on the track (29:33.61) made him impossible to catch. The Bronze medalist Adhikari registered a timing of 3:50.06.
Sri Lanka’s other athlete in the event WVMU Kumara was replaced by RMS Pushpakumara due to injury, but he too did not compete.
South Asian Games 2019 | Live Blog | Day 3
Vinoj Suranjaya, who had a disappointing run in the Men’s 100m yesterday, found a little bit of form in the 200m Final to finish with a timing of 21.19s but could not claim the Gold, which went to Uzair Rehman of Pakistan (21.15s). Saaid Hassan, who clinched Maldives 1st ever South Asian Games Gold in the 100m yesterday, finished in 3rd place with a timing of 21.22s.
Ishara Madurangi kept Sri Lanka’s flag flying high in the Women’s Discus event, claiming Bronze with a throw of 41.29m.
Sri Lanka finished medal-less in the Women’s 200m as neither Sharmila Jaan nor Amasha De Silva could sneak into the top 3. De Silva replaced Nadeesha Ramanayake, who was taken ill and hospitalized. Jan ran a personal best of 24.37s, the fastest time by a Sri Lankan this year, but unfortunately had to settle for 4th place. De Silva too registered a Season’s Best at 24.54s.
Other results
Amila Jayasiri – 4th Place Men’s Long Jump
Gayan Sampath – 5th Place Men’s Long Jump
Keep it logged on to ThePapare.com for real time updates from SAG 2019.
