Akbo and Dilki win gold for Lanka at Special Olympics

Akbo Jayawardana and Dilki Fernando 

By Hishan Welmilla

Diliki Fernado and Akbo Jayawardena brought fame to Sri Lanka when they clinched gold medals at the Special Olympics 2015, currently underway in Los Angeles, US.

Fernando won Sri Lanka’s first gold medal at the event when she finished first in the women’s 400 metres Division 8. She finished in a time of 1 minute and 20.10 seconds.

Jayawardena secured first position in the men’s 100 metres Division 60. He crossed the line in 19.15 seconds to give Sri Lanka its second gold medal at the competition.

Both events were held on 29 July at the at the USC’s Loker Stadium. Mayooran Arasakula-sooriyan competed in the 100 metres Division 51 (23.06 seconds) and Manojan Jeyachandran competed in the 100 metres Division 59 (18.27seconds) but could not make any impact.

S. Prithika Ampegama competed in the women’s 800 metres Division 02 and finished the race in a timing of 54.26 seconds in the preliminary round but that was not sufficient for her to progress. She is expected to run in the women’s 800 metres event which will get underway at 9.00 a.m. local time (9.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time) on 30 July. 

Sureka Gammadegama competed in the women’s Division 10 and finished the event in  16.68 seconds. She is expectrf to compete in the Long Jump Division F12 and Long Jump Division F06 as well.  

On 1 August, Ampegama will compete in the women’s 1,500 metres scheduled to commence at 9.00 a.m. local time (9.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time).

Sri Lanka is fielding seven athletes in two sports – badminton and athletics - at the games and the contingent will also include three coaches and two officials.