Tharushi, Darshana strike gold in Thaiwan
Sprinters Tharushi Karunaratne and Aruna Darshana won the gold medals in the Women’s and Men’s 400m events of the Taiwan Athletics Open 2024, on its first day in Chinese Taipei yesterday. Karunaratne, appearing for her country after a lapse of few months, clocked 52.48secs, surpassing the Chinese Taipei national record, while claiming the win in the final stretch from the homeland sprinter who fell behind and finished at 53.44secs in the Women’s 400m final.
India V. Vismaya was placed third after clocking 53.49secs, ahead of Sri Lankan Nadeesha Ramanayake, who completed at fourth at 53.93secs. Earlier in the qualifying heats, Karunaratne won the Heat 1 clocking 53.39secs, while Ramanayake clocked 54.74secs in Heat 2 to reach the final.
Darshana, who won the Men Men’s 400m event held in China few days ago with a timing of 45.48secs, romped to win in Chinese Taipei finishing the Men’s 400m final at 45.81secs. The second place went to Del Prado of the Philippines, who clocked 47.13secs, ahead of the Chinese Taipei sprinter, who clocked 47.89secs to finish at third.
Darshana won the heats earlier with a cozy run of 47.49secs, but he completely overhauled his style in the all-important final, where the Sri Lankan maintained a start-to-finish lead.
Earlier Gayanthika Abeyratne led the Women’s 1500m final from the beginning but lost her composure in the final stretch of the final run, and was placed second with a timing of 4:24.66secs behind the host country’s athlete.
Today Karunaratne will continue her campaign in the Women’s 800m final, scheduled at 3.00pm Sri Lankan time, after Nadeesha Dilhani competes in the Women’s Javelin Throw from 12.00noon.