Three Sri Lanka’s Para athletes Dinesh Priyantha (F46) Javelin Throw and Samantha Dulan (F44) Javelin throw and Shot put (F42) national para record holder, Palitha Bandara (Shot put and Discuss throw) will be competing for medals at the Australian Open Para Athletics Championship which will be held at the Olympics stadium Brisbane, Australia commence from today. Dinesh Priyantha, with a distance of 67.79 meters entered the record books with a Gold for the longest throw at the 2020 Tokyo Games for F46 Javelin, while his teammate Samitha Dulan (F44) secured a Bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020. The Commonwealth silver medalist Palitha Bandara is in good form to take part in this Australian Open Para Athletic Championship which will be good a competitive environment for the three Sri Lanka para-athletes who has a good chance to improve their World ranking and gain complete focus for the next Paralympic Games in France said National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Chairman Lt. Colonel Deepal Herath. Our athletes are in good form and hope to get medals at their respective medals added NPC President.
1450 Paralympians representing 23 countries will compete in this year’s games in Australia and several leafing world ranking para-athletes are expected to take part in this event. The renowned throwing coach Pradeep Nishantha also accompanied the Sri Lanka team and have the athletes improve their skills well under his guidance at the recent tours.
Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata is the proud sponsor of the Sri Lanka National Paralympic team with the Sri Lanka Sports Ministry also giving their support to this tour.