
Tharushi Karunaratne the promising athlete from A. Ratnayake Central Walalla hit the limelight winning a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver medal in the 400m at the Asian Junior Athletic Championship held in Yecheon, South Korea.
Starting the 800m race in the fourth lane she began by taking the lead from the start and finished with a clear gap to earn the gold medal in a time of 2: 05.64 seconds.
She was well ahead of the second placed runner who finished in a time of 2:10.22 seconds.
Sri Lanka’s second gold medal on that day was in the mixed relay event in the 4x400m event with Tharushi Karunaratne being a member along with Jayeshi Uttatra, Vinod Ariyawansa and Shehan Dilranga. They ran this event to a new national record of 3:25.41 seconds. The previous national record was 3:26.39 seconds.
Sri Lanka’s second bronze medal was won by Malith Yasiru in the triple jump with a distance of 15.82 metres.
The two gold medals along with a bronze in the boys’ triple jump, took Sri Lanka’s medal tally to five, with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals, finishing fourth in the ranking in the medals table.
Dinara Dela Bandara was disappointing in the girls’ 100 metres event finishing last.
China’s Shiqi Xiong won this race in a time of 11.615 seconds ahead of compatriot Xiajun Liu who clocked 11.850. Thailand’s Phetkun Athicha was third finishing in 11.855.
Japan topped the medals table with eight golds to go with two silver and two bronze, ahead of China who won five golds and India winners of three golds.