Piyush Kumar (IND) 100m gold medallist at the South Asian Games (© Dinesh Weerawansa)
India won four more gold medals while Sri Lanka won three out of nine finals on the fifth and final day of the athletic competition of the 9th South Asian Games concluded at the Jinnah Stadium here in Pakistan today. Sri Lanka athletic captain Rohan Pradeep Kumar completed his third gold medal with the men’s 4x400m relay after 200m and 400m golds.
The four relays worked off this evening were shared by India and Sri Lanka with two each. Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, who pulled out after winning women’s 200m gold due to a leg injury, did not anchor today’s 4x100m relay but Sri Lanka managed to win the gold in 46.13 seconds.
It was women’s 100m gold medallist Jani Chathurangani Silva and veteran hurdler Sriyani Kulawansa who powered the Lankan women’s team to victory. Besides Silva and Kulawansa, the other two members of the relay quartet were Achala Dias and 200m silver medallist Sujani Menaka.
Sri Lanka won two of the three women’s gold medals that were on offer on the final day with Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sriyani Kulawansa winning the women’s 100m Hurdles final. She clocked 13.37 seconds, much slower than her personal best time of 12.97. Incidentally, today’s title came 13 years after she won her first South Asian Games gold medal in the same event at the 5th Games in Colombo, 1991.
“I am glad that I have been in the scene for so long. This is my last South Asian Games and it was nice to say good bye with a gold medal,” Kulawansa said.
India pushed Sri Lanka into second place in women’s 4x400m relay final. Sri Lanka got off to a poor start and never recovered in settling down for the silver in three minutes, 44.12 seconds, behind India’s victorious gold medal winning team, which clocked 3:33.49.
In the men’s relays, Sri Lanka’s Asian Championship gold medal winning team of Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Ranga Wimalawansa, Prasanna Amarasekera and Sugath Tillakaratne, returned a timing of three minutes and 05.80 seconds to secure first place in 4x400m.
They were not at their best as second-placed Indian team (3:07.03) failed to offer any resistance. However, India won men’s 4x100m relay in 39.91 seconds. The gold medal winning team included K. Nagraj, Sandeep Sukeria, M. Vilesh and the 100m gold medallist Piyush Kumara.
As usual, Indian dominance in the field events was evident as they won both the men’s javelin throw and long jump finals. K. Lijesh cleared 75.71m to win the javelin while Mohan Singh jumped 7.70m in long jump.
“It was a close tussle. I expected to go a bit further but had to settle with 7.70, which is good enough here,” Singh said after his triumph.
Hosts Pakistan managed to have their own share on the final day, winning two gold medals. They won men’s 110m gold and silver medals with Abdul Rashid (14.33) and Muahammed Shah (14.41) respectively. In the 1500m final, Atta Miran lived up to the expectations of the home supporters when he clocked three minutes, 43.40 seconds to take the gold. Pakistan also won the silver and bronze medals in men’s javelin throw, having narrowly missed the gold.
India ended on top of the final athletic medal standings of the 9th South Asian Games. They bagged 15 gold medals, 12 silver and 14 bronze. Sri Lanka’s superlative display in track events helped them to secure the second place with 12 gold medals, nine silver and three bronze. Hosts Pakistan were third with five gold medals, eight silver and 12 bronze.
Final Athletic medal standings
Country Gold Silver Bronze
IND 15 12 14
SRI 12 9 3
PAK 5 8 12
NEP 0 2 1
BAN 0 1 2
BHU 0 0 0
AFG 0 0 0
MDV 0 0 0
Results
Men
1500m
1. Atta Miran (PAK) 3:43.40
2. Chaminda Wijekoon (SRI) 3:44.85
3. Ghamanda Ram (IND) 3:50.18
110m Hurdles
1. Abdul Rashid (PAK) 14.33
2. Muhammed Shah (PAK) 14.41
3. Krishan Mohan (IND) 14.42
4x100m
1. India 39.91
2. Sri Lanka 40.09
3. Pakistan 40.36
4x400m
1. Sri Lanka 3:05.80
2. Pakistan 3:07.03
3. India 3:07.13
Javelin throw
1. K. Lijesh (IND) 75.71m
2. Zahid Hussain (PAK) 74.67
3. Irfan Muhammed (PAK) 71.10
Long jump
1. Mohan Singh (IND) 7.70m
2. Ghulam Abbas (PAK) 7.60
3. Amril Pal (IND) 7.59
Women
100m Hurdles
1. Sriyani Kulawansa (SRI) 13.37
2. Priya Natrajan (IND) 13.84
3. Soma Biswas (IND) 13.88
4x100m
1. Sri Lanka 46.13
2. India 46.21
3. Bangladesh 47.92
4x400m
1. India 3:33.49
2. Sri Lanka 3:44.12
3. Pakistan 3:46.10.
Dinesh Weerawansa for the IAAF
