By Susil Premalal reporting from Polonnaruwa

North Western Province athlete Charith Kapukotuwa had the honour of establishing the first record on the opening day of the 44th National Sports Festival which began at the District Grounds in Polonnaruwa yesterday.

Kapukotuwa set a new mark in the Men’s hammer throw event with an effort of 50.86 metres and bettered his own record of 49.69m held in 2014.

Meanwhile, veteran athlete Manjula Wijesekera had the satisfaction of retaining the Men’s long jump title for the 10th successive year.

The Sri Lanka record holder produced another fine performance and went on to claim the title with a performance of 2.21m

In other events Central Province made a clean sweep in the Men’s 10,000m with K. Sivaneshwaran taking the Gold Medal while L. Samarajeewa and A. Bandara won the Silver and Bronze respectively.

N. Rathnayake and A. Lanka both from Sabaragamuwa Province took the Gold and Silver in the Women’s 5,000m with S. Anusha of Uva Province settling for the Bronze Medal.

G. Dulani of Southern Province won the Gold in the Women’s 400m hurdles while pushing K. Madushani of North Western Province into second place.