Janani Dhananjana and Samitha Dulan won gold medals while Anil Jayalath and Pradeep Somasiri clinched silver medals at the World Para Athletic Grand Prix held in Morocco yesterday (28).
Seven Sri Lankan para athletes are taking part in this Grand Prix which is more important to gain Paralympics qualification said National Paralympic Committee (NPC) President Colonel Deepal Herath.
Samitha Dulan who won the bronze at last Tokyo Paralympics once again came to the fore when he clinched the T- 44 Javelin Throw gold medal with his personal best achievement of 65.53m and this is a good effort before the forthcoming Paris Paralympics.
Dulan has already qualified to Paralympics but we wanted to give more exposure before Paris Paralympics and he proved his talent once again, he said.
In the 100m T-47 event Janani Dhananjana finished in 13.75 seconds to win the gold medal and she is more likely to get Paralympic qualifications, said NPC President.
Para Sprinter Anil Jayalath finished second to win the T-42 100m silver medal.
Anil Jayalath finished in 12.84 seconds while Greece athlete O. Konstantions won gold in a time of 12.48 seconds.
Sri Lanka’s Buddhika Indrapala finished third with 13.34 seconds to take bronze medal.
Pradeep Somasiri
Meanwhile Pradeep Somasiri won silver medal at T-46 1500m event while he finished in 4 minutes and 04.23 seconds and that was his personal best.
Dinesh Priyantha Herath and Samitha Dulan two former Paralympic medalists already qualified to Paris Paralympics while with this performance Anil Jayalath, Pradeep Somasiri and Janani Dhananjana can get qualification and altogether five para athletes are expected to get qualifications and we hope more than five para athletes will compete at Paralympics and hope to send athletes for next Para World Championship to gain more exposure, he said.
(Daily News)
