40th National Sports Festival at Anuradhapura:

Western Province dominate on day one

Yasaratne Gamage Reporting from Anuradhapura

Western Province athletes grabbed two gold medals, two silver and a bronze medal and dominated the first day of the 40th National Sports Meet commenced yesterday at the North Central Province Sports Complex in Anuradhapura.

They won two gold medals out of the nine finals worked off in the morning session in women's triple jump and women's shot put. The two silver came in for them in women's pole vault and in men's hammer throw.

The event commenced a little later than scheduled as the ground was wet and muddy after a night's rain in Anuradhapura. Later the typical weather appeared and the grass got drier which gave athletes a sigh of relief.

D L Samarajeewa of Central Province clocked 32m 26.58 secs to grab the gold medal in the men's 10000 metres final , the first event on the opening day. K A S Rathnayake representing Sabaragamuwa Province finished second to walked away with the silver medal and B U Vijitha Kumara of Southern Province won the bronze medal.

H A T C Hemamali of Sabaragamuwa Province finished the woman's 5000 metres in 17:43.97 to reach the finish line first to kiss the gold medal. Her teammate A N L Ariyadasa finished won the silver medal whilee S A Lamahewa of Uva Province sprinted third to secure the bronze.

In the Women's pole vault R A A Karunawansas of Eastern Province rose to a height of 3 metres to secure the gold medal while S D Ranasinghe of Western Province grabbed the silver when she jumped a height of 2.7 metres. M N Priyadarshani Silva of the same province grabbed the bronze medal with a height of 2.6 metres.

C Kapukotuwa of North Western Province registered a distance of 49.69 metres in the men's hammer throw finals which earned him the gold medal. L A E P Alanson of Western Provice three his hammer 44.04 metres and secured the silver medal while H P S J Abeywickrama of North Western Province grabbed the bronze medal by throwing 43.72 metres.

Another gold medal for Western Province was heaped when N C D Priyadarshani leapt a distance of 11.88 metres in the women's triple jump final. D V C M B Thilakarante of North Western Province secured the silver with a distance of 11.68 metres while L D D E Rathnasiri won the bronze medal when she leapt 11.54 metres. R M S J Ranasinghe of Sabaragamuwa Province was successful in throwing a distance of 68.19 metres to secure the gold medal in the men's javelin throw. Southern Province had to satisfy with the silver medal when their athlete D S Ranasinghe cleared a distance of 64.86 metres. R P W Lakshan representing North Western Province landed his javelin at a distance of 62.72 to win the bronze medal.

W T K Fernando of Western Province won the gold medal in the women's shot put. She threw her put a distance of 13.87 metres a margin of more than three meters to the silver medalist, P P S Clarans of Uva Province. She cleared 11.64 metres. W M S K Weerasekara of North Central Province grabbed the only medal for the host city of the event when she secured a distance of 11.17 metres to win the bronze medal.

Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage officially commenced the athletic meet on the opening ceremony that was attended by NCP Governor Karunaratne Diulgane and NCP Chief Minister Ranjith Samarakoon.

As a whole the first day's performances by athletes were at a low standard when compared to their personal bests and previous performances. The muddy and slippery condition of the ground in the morning session could be a major factor.