SL Paralympic medallists receive hero’s welcome on arrival

Dinesh Herath receiving his vehicle

Samitha Dulan receiving his vehicle

BY Susil Premalal   

Sri Lanka’s Paralympic Gold Medallist Dinesh Priyantha Herath and Bronze Medallist Samitha Dulan along with the rest of the team members arrived in the island to a red carpet welcome yesterday after competing in the 16th Tokyo Para Games in Japan.

The Sri Lankan Paralympics Team arrive at around 5.10 p.m. on SriLankan Airlines flight UL 455.
Herath won a Gold Medal with a record breaking effort of 67.79m in the Men’s javelin throw F46 event while Dulan secured the Bronze Medal in the Men’s javelin throw F44 event.

This was the first time Sri Lankan para athletes had won two medals at the Paralympics, which paved the way for them to finish in 57th place in the final medals table. The medal winners and their coach will receive cash awards from the Sports Ministry while Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have also pledged to reward the two athletes financially.    
Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Ministers have approved a proposal to grant monetary rewards to the Sri Lankan athletes who secured medals at the Paralympic Games 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.

Following their victory, the Sports Ministry had proposed to award Rs. 50m to Herath and Rs. 20m to Dulan as monetary rewards for their performances. A senior official of the Ministry of Sports yesterday announced that on the request of Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, a special Cabinet paper was approved for the reward scheme of the two Paralympians.

Meanwhile, Rs. 19.125m has been allocated for the coaches of the Paralympians.

The prize money allocated by the Sports Ministry are: Gold - Rs. 50m, Bronze - Rs. 20m, 4th to 8th place - Rs. 2.5m, 9th to 16th place - Rs. 1m (x4), world record - Rs. 10m. 

In another development the Sri Lanka Automobile Association of Japan (SLAAJ) presented two vehicles for Paralympic Gold Medal winner Dinesh Priyantha Herath and Samitha Dulan before their departure to Colombo at the Narita Airport in Japan yesterday.

Herath received a Nissan Note Car while Dulan received a Suzuki Alto Car.

Sri Lankan Ambassador to Japan Sanjiv Gunasekara was the Chief Guest at this occasion along with other Sri Lankan delegates in Japan.