Nimali and Sandaruwan set new records
Ishara Sandaruwan reached a height of 5.10 metres to set up a new Sri Lanka record in Men's Pole Vault
Two new Sri Lanka records were established during the morning session on the penultimate day of the 42nd National Sports Festival which continued at the Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna yesterday.
South Asian Games Gold Medallist Nimali Liyanarachchi from Southern Province powered her way to win the Women’s 800 metres with a record time of 2:03.5 seconds while erasing a 24 year old record.
She was able to better the previous record of 2:03.87 seconds held by Dhammika Manike at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
In addition, Ishara Sandaruwan of Western Province also set a new Sri Lanka record in the Men’s pole vault event with an effort of 5.10 metres. He bettered his own record of 5.00 metres set earlier this year.
On Friday, two new Sri Lanka records were established by D. Anithya of Northern Province and Tharika Fernando of Western Province.
Anithya, a schoolgirl from Mahajana College Jaffna won the Women’s pole vault with a performance of 3.41 metres to erase the previous record of 3.40 metres while Fernando took the Women’s shot put with a performance of 15.25 metres and shattered the previous record of 14.88 metres.
Meanwhile, Western Province defeated Sabaragamuwa 3-1 in the Men’s Volleyball Tournament final while Western Province edged-out North Western Province 3-2 in the Women’s Volleyball Tournament final.
Earlier, Western Province clinched the netball title defeating Central Province 55-44 in the final.
| Jaffna Games turning out to be a flop? The 42nd National Sports Festival will reach its climax when President Maithripala Sirisena participates as the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony which is scheduled for today at the Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna. Among the other dignitaries who are expected to attend the closing ceremony are the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C. V. Vigneswaran, Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray and Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera. However, the participation of Vigneswaran for the closing ceremony is once again doubtful as he kept away from attending the opening ceremony as well on Thursday. Speculations are mounting whether the Chief Minister had actually boycotted the National Sports Festival opening ceremony although he is scheduled to address the gathering during today’s closing ceremony. This Sports Festival which is been held in Jaffna for the first time has already turned out to be a flop with a very low turnup of spectators attending during the first three days of the event. In addition, the Duraiappah Stadium which was redeveloped at a cost of Rs. 145 million under the Indo-Sri Lanka Friendship Agreement, has come under severe criticism although the third day of the Festival produced two Sri Lanka records. But none availability of the electronic timing system has hampered the performances of a few athletes although this issue has been highlighted on many occasions. Another low key factor is the less turnaround of spectators to the venues which are been packed with Sports Ministry officials and competitors. However, as the ministry officials were busy trying to organize the event with a lot of hard work during the last few days the more elite administrative officials of the Sports Ministry took this opportunity to spend the weekend with their families while occupying star class hotels. - SP |
Nimali Liyanarachchi (L) claimed the Women's 800m Sri Lanka record
A participant makes his attempt in the Men's Shot Put event