Charitha and Lal add to Lanka’s medals tally

Charitha Nirmala Buddika and Lal Pushpakumara added to Sri Lanka’s medal count taking it to eleven on the fifth day of the Asian Para Games continued at Jakarta yesterday.

Buddika won the third gold for Sri Lanka in the Men’s Long Jump T42/T61/T63 with a leap of 5.37 meters and Vijay Kumar from India won the silver with 5.05 meter. Mulyono Mulyono from Indonesia took the bronze with 4.89 meters.

Lal Pushpakumara won the bronze in the Men’s High Jump T64/44 category with a height of 1.76m. Uzbekistan took the gold when Giyazov Temurbek cleared 1.95 meters and Suzuki Toru won the silver medal with a leap of 1.89 meters.

Sri Lanka has three gold, four sliver and three bronze medals securing fourteenth place in the medals tally.

Sri Lanka wheel chair tennis double’s event team Lasantha Suresh Ranaweera and Ranjan Dharmasena who beat host nation Indonesia in the first round 6-1, 6-1 were defeated by the world number one team Japan 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals.

Sri Lanka’s Jayasinha Arachchige Thisara Jayasinha finished fourth with 13.13 meters in the women’s Javelin Throw F57. Iran dominated the event when their athletes Nogourani Mahnaz(25.75) and Kordestani Eshrat (19.25) secured the gold and silver medals and Nguyen Thi Thuy from Vietnam took the bronze with 13.40 meters.

In the Men’s 100M T45/46/47 Pradeep Somasiri was placed eighth when he finished with a time of 11.58 seconds. Nuwan Indika (11.98 secs) and Maduranga Alwis (12.04 secs) came fourth and fifth in the Men’s 100M T44/T62/64 and Kumudu Priyanka become a seventh place in the women 100m T45/46/47 event clocking 14.58 seconds.

China leads the tally with 100 gold, 46 silver, and 39 bronze followed by Korea and Iran respectively.

WORLD’S SECOND-TALLEST MAN COMPETES

Morteza Mehrzadselakjani stands out from eight others in the IR Iran’s sitting volleyball team. Standing up, Morteza measures 2.46 meters, making him the world’s second-tallest man and the tallest ever athlete competing in the Asian Para Games.

Together with his teammates, Morteza must defeat eight other countries to win the gold in the men’s sitting volleyball event. He suffers from acromegaly, a rare condition caused by an excess of growth hormone.

But at the age of 15, he had a serious pelvis fracture from a bicycle accident. The injury caused his right leg to stop growing.