Sri Lanka wins South Asian Cross Country overall runner-up trophies

Sri Lanka won the overall runner-up award in both the senior and junior categories at the South Asian Cross Country Championship 2022 held at Nagaland, India on Saturday, when they secured four medals.

Samantha Pushpakumara, 39, proved age is just a number when he won the Silver medal in the open men’s 10 km run clocking 33 minutes 12.00 seconds, while K. Shanmugeswaran won the Bronze medal clocking 33 minutes 14.00 seconds.

In the junior men’s category, Jaliya Sangeeth won the Silver medal clocking 29 minutes 02.00 seconds in the 8-km run.

In the open women’s category, Madumali Perera won the Bronze medal clocking 39 minutes 48.00 seconds in the 10k run.

Sri Lanka fielded 12 runners for the competition which was held in the following categories: Men, Women, Junior Men and Junior Women.

Unlike other years, the cross country was run on the road and on the synthetic track without any obstacles other than the mountain course. India sealed all four championships and gold medals.

Team: K. Shanmugeswaran, Samantha Pushpakumara,  S.R. Wijewardana,  Jaliya Sangeeth, J. Angelo, Prabath Madubhashana, Madumali Perera, Samudika Herath, Nimesha Nidashani, Nirmali Wickramasinghe, Hashini Lakshani and Nilumika Fonseka