Wimalasiri Claims Best Athlete Award

By Susil Premalal

Wimalasiri produced a record breaking performance of 8.14 metres in the Men’s long jump final while erasing the previous record of 7.86m set by Amila Jayasiri of Sri Lanka Air Force in 2014.

Meanwhile, Nilani Ratnayaka of Sri Lanka Army was selected as the Best Women’s Athlete for her record breaking performance in the 3,000m steeplechase (9:46.76s) on Saturday.

Overall the three-day meet produced a total of four Sri Lanka records and 11 new meet records.

Another feature in the meet was the poor performance of three Asian Games bound athletes, Sumedha Ranasinghe (Men’s javelin), Hemantha Kumara (Men’s 1,500) and Danushka Piyaratna (Men’s long jump).

Ranasinghe and Kumara had to be content with the second place while Piyaratna was pushed to the fourth place in their respective events.

Challenge Trophies:

Best Men's hurdles event:

L. A. I. Ratnasena (Air Force), 400m hurdles 51.23s.

Best Men’s throwing event:

Sampath Ranasinghe (Army) javelin throw 78.79m (NMR)

Best Men’s jumping event:

Prasad Wimalasiri (Army), long jump 8.14m (NMR)

Best Men’s sprint event:

Aruna Darshana (Sri Lanka Schools AA) 400m, 46.16s.

Best Men’s high jump event:

Ushan Thiwanka Perera (Gampaha DAA) 2.18m

Best Women’s sprint event:

R. Nadeesha (Army) 400m, 53.27s.

Best Women’s performance in middle distance:

Nilani Ratnayaka (Army) 3,000m steeplechase 9:46.76s. (NMR)

Best performance Women’s in long distance:

S. A. Lamahewage (Navy) 5,000m, 17:15.66s.

Best performance Women’s in hurdles:

W. V. L. Sugandi (Army) 100m hurdles, 13.92s.

Best performance Women’s in jumps:

Vidhusha Lakshani (Army) triple jump 13.60m (NMR).

Best performance Women’s in throwing:

H. L. N. D. Lekamge (Army) javelin throw 54.95m.

Best Men’s middle and long distance event:

G. R. Chathuranga (Army) 800m 1:51.30s.

Best Women’s Athlete:

Nilani Ratnayaka (Army) 3,000m Steeplechase 9:46.76s. (NSLR)

Best Men’s Athlete:

Prasad Wimalasiri (Army) long jump 8.14m (NMR).

Best Athlete (Men and Women):

Prasad Wimalasiri (Army) long jump 8.14m (NMR).

Captions:

Prasad Wimalasiri in action

Pix by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe