Sri Lanka’s Galina Basnayake created history by winning a gold medal in the women’s 400m swimming freestyle at the Asian Youth Para Games now in progress in Bahrain .
Basnayake, a 16-year old swimmer finished with her personal best time five minutes 25.24 seconds to clinch the gold while Eril Toguchi of Japan with 6:43.99 and Hong Kong’s Bo Yee Bowie 7:08.69 were placed second and third to secure silver and bronze medals respectively.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s Naveed Raheem was able to win the bronze in the men’s 400m freestyle event with his personal best of five minutes 20.59 seconds while Korean swimmer Yeum Jundu won the gold with a timing of 4:49.27.
Two more medals in athletics was won by two Sri Lankans on the second day of the Asian Youth Para meet with 16-year old Jason Jayawardena who in his first attempt threw a distance of 6.64 to win the silver in the Shot Put event.
Jayawardena competed in the T/W Dwarf category standing at 4’1” in height and made five other attempts while Indian Solahudeen Ayyubi was placed first with 8.01.
The second bronze medal in athletics was won by Janani Wickramasinghe with 29.36 seconds in the 200 metres while Japan’s Moe Nakaguwa (26.80) and Thailand’s I.Sasirawan were placed first and second.
National Paralympic Committee (NPC) President Lt Colonel Deepal Herath said more than 800 athletes from 32 Asian countries are taking part in the Youth Asian Para Games.
“To win one gold, one
silver and two bronze medals means it is a huge achievement and a big boost from this meet,” said Herath.