Sri Lanka bag two Gold Medals in Hangzhou

by Susil Premalal   
Sri Lanka won two Gold Medals on the third day of the Fourth Asian Para Games, which continued in Hangzhou, China yesterday.   
Pradeep Somasiri produced a fine performance to secure the Gold Medal in the Men’s 1,500m, T46 event with a time of 4:05.14s.   
Two Indian athletes, M. Parmod and Rakesh Bhaira were able to win the Silver Medal and Bronze Medal respectively.   
In addition, Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Indika powered his way to claim first place in the Men’s 100m T44 event with a time of 11.63s.   
Eddy Bernard of Malaysia took the Silver Medal while Nour Asana from Saudi Arabia secured the Bronze Medal in this event.   
A total of 26 athletes are currently representing Sri Lanka at the Asian Para Games in eight sports including athletics, archery, badminton, powerlifting, rowing, swimming, table tennis, and wheelchair tennis.   

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will target more medals when Paralympics Gold Medalist Dinesh Priyantha Herath and Samitha Dulan compete in the Men’s javelin throw events, which are scheduled for today.   
Dulan will be vying for honours in the javelin throw F64 final along with three Indian competitors – Pushpendra Singh, M. Sandeep and M. Sumit together with Rufat Khabibullin of Kazakhstan and Tin Nyo of Myanmar.   

Herath will compete in the javelin throw F46 final event with stiff opposition coming from two Japanese competitors – Shunya Takahashi and Takuya Shiramasa along with India’s M. Rinku, Sundar Singh and Ajeet Singh.   
In addition, Palitha Bandara will line up in the F42 shot put and Maduranga Subasinghe will compete in the T47 400m.   
Kumudu Priyanka will take part in the T45/46 100m, long jump and Ranjan Dharmasena will compete in the wheelchair tennis tournament, while Sampath Bandara and Mahash Jayakody will aim for medals in archery and rowing and the up-and-coming new swimming star Galina Basnayake is also tipped to win a Gold Medal.