Madusanka and Ratnayake win gold for Sri Lanka

 

Sri Lanka came up with gusty performances to win two gold medals and a silver medal on the redeveloped Sugathadasa stadium on Sunday. First, it was Sri Lanka’s 400 meter runner in the women’s category R.M.S.K. Ratnayake who made a top class run to out run the top athletes from India and Kazakhstan. Ratnayake, who was behind the leader when reaching the half way mark, made great effort in the last 200 meters and piped the Indian athlete just on the line. In the last 50 meters she had an exceptional run which surprised all onlookers.Nadeeshanee Henderson, another Sri Lankan who was ahead of Ratnayake up to 300 meters, could not hold on to the position she gained with a good start and was able to finish as the fourth in this event. These two athletes received the best morale boosting support from the spectators throughout the race. The very next event saw the Lankans gain their second gold to increase the number of medals when Dulaj Madusanka went on to win the 400m event after a strong battle. He had to face stiff competition from Japanese and Chinese athletes before crossing the finishing line.Madusanka though he received the strong challenge he was the favorite to win the race according to previous day’s timing where he clocked 47.77 seconds which also paved the way for him to reach the qualifying standard to compete at the world Youth Athletic championship in few months from now. With his top class run to win the gold also saw him improve in his timing by another 0.30 seconds completing the event only in 47.36 seconds.