Lalana wins first Silver for Sri Lanka at Masters Games
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Lalani Shanthi Irangani wins second place in 200 metres at
the 20th World Masters Games in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
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World Masters Athletics: M.G. Lalana Shanthi Irangani won the first –
ever Silver Medal for Sri Lanka at the recently concluded XX World
Masters Athletic Championships held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Iranganie
won second place behind USA’s Olympic athlete Bernert Brandi (25.35 sec)
in the 200 metres final with a time of 25.79 seconds. Julia Hubert of
United Kingdom won the Bronze with a time of 25.81 seconds.
This was the second time a Sri Lankan athlete won a medal at the
World Championships.
Gamini Weerasinghe of Sri Lankan Airlines won a Bronze medal at the
World Championships held in Finland in 2009 in the 400 metres hurdles
becoming first Sri Lankan to win a medal at World Masters Games.
Iranganie was one of the very few Asian women athletes who won a
medal in a sprint event & she was not allowed to participate at the 100
meters event on a technical issue which was beyond her control, losing a
golden opportunity of making a sprint double.
It was the first time since Susanthika Jayasinghe won a silver medal
at the World Games in 1997, a Sri Lankan girl came to limelight at a
world event, bringing a great honour to Sri Lanka. |
