TOKYO, August 3 – South Asia’s fastest man Yupun Abeykoon will be Sri Lanka’s flag-bearer at the XXX11nd Olympic Games closing ceremony to be held at the Olympic Stadium here in the Japanese capital on August 8.
Judoka Chamara Dharawardana and gymnast Milka Gehani, as the Men’s and Women’s Captains of the Sri Lanka contingents, functioned as the flag-bearers of Sri Lanka at the July 23 opening ceremony.
But sprinter Abeykoon will now get the rare opportunity of carrying the Lion flag at the closing ceremony as both original flag-bearers have left the Athletes Village after completing their events.
According to the Organising Committee rule, all competitors must leave the Olympic Village 48 hours after finishing their events, and all Sri Lankan competitors, except for Mathilda Karlsson and Abeykoon, have now left the Olympic Village.
Karlsson is staying because her first-round equestrian individual jumps are scheduled later tonight.
Chef-de-Mission of Sri Lanka Team, Gamini Jayasinghe told the Daily News that they have written to the Organising Committee and obtained special permission for Abeykoon to remain in the Olympic Village until the Games are over as there won’t be any competitor left to be the flag-bearer other than him.
Italy-based Abeykoon is now expected to leave for Rome where he is residing, on August 10.
Out of the Sri Lanka Team’s overall Captains, judoka Dharawardana has already left for Colombo while gymnast Gehani too has left the Olympic Village.
Gehani, whose sports scholarship was extended until the next 2024 Olympics in France, will continue to live in Japan on a coaching plus competition mission.
She has already left the Olympic Athletes Village to join back with her training facility in Japan.
Gehani, along with Abeykoon, are considered Sri Lanka’s brightest medal prospects at next year’s Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China. Born on April 24, 2003, the 18-year-old is training in Japan under a special International Olympic Committee (IOC) solidarity scholarship presented to Sri Lanka and will continue to represent Sri Lanka in artistic gymnastics.
Gehani began training in Japan in 2019 after receiving a scholarship from the IOC. She competed at the All-Japan Championships in Takasaki, placing 40th in September, 2020.
In May 2021, she was awarded one of the two available Asian continental berths to the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the cancellation of the 2021 Asian Championships, as she was the highest ranked eligible athlete based on the results of the 2019 World Championships.
This marked Sri Lanka’s debut in gymnastics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Meanwhile, USA’s Susina Lee won the Gold Medal in artistic gymnastics overall Women’s category.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade accounted for the Silver Medal ahead of third placed Angelina Melnikova of Russian Olympic Committee.
Milka Gehani
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