Kumara lifts Sri Lanka’s first Commonwealth Games medal
Promising weightlifter Dilanka Isuru Kumara won Sri Lanka’s first medal at the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England yesterday. Kumara produced a fine performance to secure the bronze medal in the 55kg weight class as he lifted 105kgs in the snatch category and 120kgs in the clean and jerk category to finish in third place with an aggregate total of 225kg.
“I am really delighted and proud to become the first Sri Lankan to win a medal at this year’s Commonwealth Games,” Kumara told the Sunday Times soon after his excellent performance.
“My goal was to win a medal for the country, and I was not much concerned whether it is gold, silver or a bronze,” Kumara stressed.
Mohamed Aniq of Malaysia bagged the gold medal with a total of 249kg while India’s Sargar Sanket clinched the silver medal with a tally of 248kg.
Dilanka Isuru Kumara claimed a bronze medal, lifting a combined weight of 225kgs in the Men's 55kg category - Pix by Sameera Peiris/Sportsphotography.com
Meanwhile Thilanka Viraj Kumara pulled out of the 61Kg competition following an injury. He suffered injury during his second attempt.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka Men’s and the Women’s rugby teams suffered more humiliation as they crashed to their third straight defeat in the Commonwealth Games Sevens Rugby played at the Coventry Stadium in Birmingham. The Sri Lanka Men’s team, of course, put up an improved performance yet they went down to a superior Samoa outfit 0-44 in their Pool ‘A’ fixture.
The Sri Lanka Women’s Team suffered another humiliating 0-74 defeat at the hands of Canada in their third and final Pool ‘A’ encounter played at the same venue. Canada piled up 36 points in the first half and added a further 38 points in the second half with a dominant performance to complete an easy victory in the end.
Sri Lanka edged out Australia 3-2 in the Commonwealth Games badminton mixed team event Group ‘A’ fixture played at the NEC Badminton Courts in Birmingham. Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa provided Sri Lanka the perfect start as they clinched the opening doubles 21-18, 21-14 before Niluka Karunaratne extended the lead by defeating Nathan Tang 21-18, 21-12.
Australia pulled one back through Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen who beat Sri Lanka’s Vidara Suhasini in the Women’s Singles 21-10, 21-13. However, Sri Lanka sealed the contest through their pair of Niluka Karunaratne and Sachin Dias as they defeated Tran Hoang Pham and Jack Yu 21-16, 21-14.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Ganga Senevirathna was knocked out from the first round of the Women’s 100m backstroke event on the second day of the swimming competitions. Senevirathna had to be content with the seventh place in heat four with a time of 1.06.17secs as Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won the race clocking a superb 59.58s. Senevirathna finished at 20th in the overall placing, with 16 swimmers qualifying for the second round out of 30 competitors.
In the Men’s weightlifting championship, Sri Lanka’s Thilanka Palangasinghe put up a disappointing performance as he failed to finish his 61kg final event. However, Srimali Samarakoon produced a pleasing performance before missing out on a medal following her heroics in the women’s 49kg final. She lifted 65kgs in the snatch category and 87kgs in the clean and jerk category for a total of 152kgs.