Kosala and Wimalasena to SAG as observers
View(s):Veteran athletes Kosala Sahabandu and Wimalasena Perera will proceed to the South Asian Games (SAG) as observers from the Sri Lanka Athletic Association.
The Sports Ministry has granted them air-tickets to proceed to the event which started on Friday.
The 12-day event will conclude on February 16 in Assam, India. These two former athletes had made a request to the Sports Ministry to proceed to the SAG and the Sports Ministry had acceded to their requests.
In 1974 Kosala Sahabanu won a Gold Medal at the Tehran Asian Games in the 4X400 Relay team. He also represented Sri Lanka at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Other than that he has represented Sri Lanka at three Asian Games – 1974 (Tehran), 1978 (Bangkok) and 1982 (Delhi).
Wimalasena Perera has been Sri Lanka’s marathon record holder for 25 years. He represented Sri Lanka at the Jamaica Commonwealth Games. In 1968 he represented Sri Lanka at the Mexico Olympics.
Both these athletes played an active role in athletics and were in the national selection committee from time to time. The Sri Lanka Athletics Association has fully approved the participation of these two veteran athletes as observers for the South Asian Games.