SL’s Pathirage clinches javelin gold
RANCHI, Oct 26: Sri Lanka’s star javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage lived up to the expectations as he easily won gold with a meet record effort even as India topped the final medal table in the SAAF Senior Championships here on Sunday.
India and Sri Lanka shared the spoils with eight gold each on the third and concluding day at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
Fielding a second-string team, India ended the championships on top with 58 medals (20 gold, 20 silver, 18 bronze). Sri Lanka finished second with 40 medals (16 gold, 14 silver, 10 bronze).
The championships ended on a pulsating note with the Indian women’s 4x400m relay quartet picking up the gold in the last event with the last-leg runner Neeru Pathak overtaking her Sri Lankan rival at the final stretch after the home team was trailing Sri Lanka for most part of the race.
The 22-year-old Pathirage, who had finished seventh in the World Championships in September, dominated the four-man field with his third-round throw of 84.29m to clinch the gold and better the previous meet record of 75.37m set in the 1998 edition in Colombo.
Pathirage, who had finished third in the NC Classic javelin competition hosted and won by India’s two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra in July, has a personal best of 86.50m.
Compatriot Sumedha Ranasinghe took the silver with an effort of 81.62m while India’s Uttam Patil got the bronze with 76.30m.
Sri Lanka’s Mohammad Yamick ended with sprint double as she won the 200m gold with a time of 23.58 seconds, adding to the 100m top spot she had secured on the opening day on Friday.
India’s Sakshi Chavan (23.91 seconds) and Neeru Pathak (245.06 seconds) took the 200m silver and bronze respectively.
The SAAF Senior Championships have made a return after 17 years, the last edition being held in Kochi in 2008.
India had also topped the table in 2008 with 57 medals – 24 gold, 19 silver, 14 bronze, while Sri Lanka had accumulated 7 gold, 9 silver, 15 bronze. (PTI)
