Sri Lanka placed 38th among 140 countries
Nimali Liyanaarachchi
Sri Lankan athletes Nimali Liyanaarachchi, Sumedha Ransinghe and Nadeeka Lakmali achieved world class milestones, winning a silver and a bronze medal each respectively at the 7th World Military Games now in progress in Wuhan, China.
Middle-distance runner Nimali Liyanaarachchi clocked 2:06.14 minutes to win the silver medal in the Women’s 800m event. Sri Lanka record holder for Women’s 800m Gayanthika Abeyratne, whose record timing was 2:2.55 minutes, finished eighth at the World Military Games finals.
Javelin throwers Sumedha Ranasinghe (75.35m) and Nadeeka Lakmali (52.73m) were unable to reach their personal best performances, but won bronze medals in their events as Sri Lanka finished 39th on the medals table among 140 countries. Sri Lanka has fielded 18 athletes as the bulk of the country’s athletes are attached to Sri Lanka Army.
China has taken an unassailable lead in the medals table with a cruising 112 gold medals. Russia is placed second with 43 gold while Brazil has secured the third place for their 19 gold medals. From the South Asian region, only India and Sri Lanka won medals, but India has come in at 27th after winning a gold medal and a bronze medal while Sri Lanka has been placed 38th with a silver and two bronze medals.
In the previous Games held in South Korea last year, Sri Lanka won only a bronze in 4x100m Men’s relay. The World Military Games in Wuhan, China, started on October 18 ends today.
Nadeeka Lakmali