Para athletes who won medals at the World Para Athletic Championships held in Kobe, Japan were felicitated by the Sri Lanka Paralympic Committee in association with the sponsors Dialog at the Dialog office on Thursday (30) evening as Samitha Dulan, Indika Gamage and Palitha Bandara were presented with mementoes in a simple ceremony.
Dulan set a new world record in the Men’s F-44 Javelin Throw event as the 33-year-old veteran athlete displayed exceptional skills in his first attempt with a distance of 66.49 metres that earned him the silver medal.
Earlier he had won a bronze medal in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and in the 2023 Paris World Championship.
Gamage performed exceptionally well in the T-44 100 metres event in a time of 11.83 seconds to secure a bronze medal.
Bandara too secured a bronze medal when he took part in the men’s Shot Put F-42 category to throw a distance of 14.27 metres for third place.
However, the disappointment was when record breaking javelin thrower Dinesh Priyantha Herath was disqualified from the F-46 category after protests were made by India on his eligibility to participate in that category. All tests found him unsuitable to fall into that category as his defect has been cured with prolonged medication.
Herath had thrown the javelin to a distance of 62.04 in his first attempt but his throw of 64.59m was the best and was a new meet record.
The complaint was made by India well before the event and the tests were done by the World Para Athletics Classification Committee.
Herath will not be able to participate in the Javelin throw in the future and take up other sports like badminton, archery, rifle shooting, sailing, wheelchair tennis and rowing.
But he does not think he can switch over very soon.
“Dinesh (Herath) has been a great asset to Para athletes with his guidance. It will be difficult to find someone else like him who has done a lot towards the country,” said retired Lt. Col. Deepal Herath, the president of the Sri Lanka Paralympic Committee.
