Sadeepa, Chamod , Sugandhi and Udaya win best athlete titles
Gateway College Athlete Sadeepa Henderson and Chamod Yodasinghe of St Mary’s College Kegalle won the under-20 best female and male athlete titles, while South Asian Games Gold Medalist Lakshika Sugandhi and Southern high jumper Indika Kumara were adjudged the over-20 best female and male athletes at the 31st National Youth Sports Festival concluded in Anuradhapura on Sunday.
18-year-old Sadeepa, the South Asian Games 4x100m relay Gold medalist, leaped 5.70m in the long jump to seal the best under-20 female athlete award, in addition to winning the 100m with a time of 12.35 seconds.
Yodasinghe leaped 7.38m in the long jump to seal the best male u-20 athlete award.
Sugandhi who won the best female athlete title to walk away with a car during the National Sports Festival last year, clocked a modest 14.47 seconds to win the 100m hurdles, which sealed her the over-20 best female athlete award.
High Jumper Kumara from Galle leaped 2.08m, 1 cm lower than the under-20 high jump winner, but that was enough to seal him the best male athlete award.
All four athletes walked away with motor bikes.
Three new meet records were set during the Festival. Gampaha District defended the overall championship with 112 points.
The 31st National Youth Sports festival was scheduled to be held last year, but was postponed due to inclement weather at the time followed by the Presidential election.
