By Dhammika Ratnaweera
Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) emerged overall champions at the 21 st Army Para Games concluded on Friday at the Diyagama Stadium. SLLI with 48 gold medal, 54 Silver and 38 bronze medals carried away the champions trophy- The award was presented by the three forces commander Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratna who was the chief Guest at this awards ceremony. Gajaba Regiment was received overall runners-up with 45 gold, 41 silver and 31 medals.
The main highlight of this three day event was Palitha Bandara of Sri Lanka National Defence Regiment showed superb performances setting up two meet records of Discuss throw and Shot Put events with a distance of 40.30m and 12.80m respectively.
Bandara, the 27 year old soldier from Villawana Village in Matale already entered the F-42 category shot put at the forthcoming Para Asian Games in Jakartha said he is determined to get a medal at the Para Asian Games.
“In year 2011, I met with an accident and suffered a left leg injury. As the result, I was attached to Para sports. My aim is to get medals in 2020 Paralympic in Tokyo. My key event is Discuss throw but Para Asian Games not included the discuss throw in my F-42 category.” said Bandara.
The best athlete at the Para games is happy to have set up two meet records with erasing my two own records in Discuss throw and Shot Put and have boosted my confidence for the international meets.
Disabled soldiers of all regiments were participated in this Army Para Games. Army Commander Lt General Mahesh Senanayake and Army Para Sports Committee Chairman and Army Chief de Staff Major General Dampath Fernando were also present at the awards ceremony.
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