Only five events were possible on the penultimate day of the 44th National Sports Festival due to heavy rains experienced in Polonnaruwa yesterday but there was nothing do dampen the spirits of some of the athletes.
C.A.I. Madurangi of Western Province won the women’s discus throw hurling a distance of 41.77m while A.U.K. Sulawansa bagged the gold medal in the long jump with a leap of 6.04m and Nimali Kaluarachchi from Southern Province won in her pet event the 800m for women in a time of 2:22.52secs. In the men’s events M.H.I. Sandaruwan from the Western Province who went over the bar at 4.80m in the Pole Vault event carried away the gold medal while Uva Province’s Indrajith Herath clocked 1:50.59 to win the men’s 800m event.
Western Province with a tally of 87 gold medals is in the lead with Central Province (41) and North Western Province (25) placed second and third respectively.