Sri Lankan powerlifters win 26 medals at Asian Powerlifting Championships

From left: Thilakaratne Chandana, Uvindu Jayasinghe, Darin Weerasinghe, Sulesh Mendis, Rohan Paulas and Kenosha Mendis

The Sri Lanka Powerlifting Team

• Medal haul includes 7 Gold, 12 Silver and 7 Bronze

Sri Lankan powerlifters continued their impressive medal haul at the recently held Asian Championships where over 600 athletes participated from over 36 countries in the Asian region. 

Excellent performance in all classes included Suranga de Silva with 4 gold medals (Masters 1) and Rohan Paulas (Masters 3) with 3 gold medals, leading the medal haul, with notable efforts from Pradeep Sununu, Kunam Pushanthan and Uvindu Jayasinghe bagging some important medals in the highly competitive Open category. Sulesh Mendis with a silver in the junior category excelled against some serious competition. Experienced lifter Darin Weerasinghe too bagged a silver in the Masters 1 category.

There were numerous Sri Lankan national records broken too at this event. This was yet another success for the power lifters, who continue to consistently bring home medals for Sri Lanka, despite the sport having some challenges both administratively and financially. All costs of participating including flights, hotels, transfers, and participation fees were borne by the athletes themselves.

This year is a crucial year with the Commonwealth, Asia Pacific and World Championship events to be held in South Africa and the athletes need all the support and organisation if they are to have any chance of winning more medals for Sri Lanka.

The athletes have respectfully written to the National Sports Council, Sports Ministry and the Powerlifting Federation, outlining several practical steps to help improve more participation and ensure that the athletes are supported in their participation at future events.

Asian Championship 2023 – Malaysia Medal Breakdown

Pradeep Sumudu 59 weights class (Open)

Squat - Bronze 

Bench Press - Silver 

Deadlift- Silver 

Overall- Silver 

Uvindu Jayasinghe 105 weight class (Open) 

Squat - Bronze 

Kunam Pushanthan 120+ weight class (Open) 

Bench Press - Silver 

Deadlift - Silver 

Sulesh Mendis 120 weight class (Sub-Junior) 

Squat - Bronze 

Bench Press - Bronze 

Deadlift- Silver 

Overall- Silver 

Jenosha Mendis 74 weight class (Junior) 

Squat - Silver 

Shevoni Nethara 84 weight class (Junior) 

Squat - Bronze 

Bench Press - Bronze

Deadlift- Silver 

Overall- Bronze 

Suranga de Silva 66 weight class (Masters 1) 

Squat - Gold 

Bench Press - Gold 

Deadlift- Gold

Overall- Gold 

Thilakarathne Chandana 83 weight class (Masters 1) 

Deadlift - Silver 

Hiran Fernando 93 weight class (Masters 1) 

Squat - Silver 

Darin Weerasinghe 120 weight class (Masters 1) 

Bench Press - Silver 

Rohan Paulas 105 weight class (Masters 3) 

Squat - Gold 

Bench Press - Silver 

Deadlift- Gold 

Overall- Gold