Sandakelum brings home the 40th gold for Sri Lanka

Rumesh Sandakelum (Men’s Light Heavy 81kg) brought Sri Lanka their 40^th Gold medal as the 13^th South Asian games came to an end amidst and loud and ornate closing ceremony at the Dasrath Stadium, Rangashala in Kathmandu. 

The Lankans Pugilists ended the day with gold, Silver and 4 Bronze Medals the boxing matches took place at the Satabado Stadium, also in Kathmandu.

Rumesh competing in the 81kgs category beat Nepalese counterpart Pradhan Ganesh to take the gold. The boxing silver was won by Ayoma Dulanji in the Women’s Feather 57kg category while the four bronze medals were won by Buwaneka Eranda (Men’s Super-Heavy +91kg), Lasindu Eranda (Men’s Fly 52kg) and Nissanka Jeevantha (Men’s Light 60kg) while Nilmini Athauda a bronze in the Women’s Fly 51kg category.

At the closing ceremony, once again it was a packed stadium mainly owing to the clash of the neighbours Nepal and Bhutan who fought for the title followed by Gold and Silver. Nonetheless it was hosts Nepal who the Gold and the Silver for Bhutan after a scrappy game.

Following the football game the crowed stayed back to witness the pomp and pageant of the closing ceremony where the hosts Nepal also did extremely well to hold to the second place with the 51 Gold medals they won in this 13^th edition of the spectacle.

For the Lankan the final tally was 40 gold and that too is a high for the South Asian island nation and at the end of the proceedings the night melted out of the Dasrath stadium looking for Pakistan to take up the challenge.

Basketball

Sri Lanka was outwitted by India 62-101 in the gold medal match of the Basketball competition at the covered hall.

The Tall and Lanky Indian men were in control from the opening stage of the game as they led the first three quarters by 26-14, 25-10, 28-11 but in the last quarter they were virtually given the best challenge by the Lankans who dominated by 27-22, but settled in with the silver medal.

1. Charith and Indian skipper Bhri Gubanshi top scored for their respective teams with 17 points each in a game where Sri Lanka made a late charge.

For Sri Lanka P. Udayanga (11). C. Kusal and C. Joseph (10) scored well.

Amritpal Singh and A. Annadurai added 15 points each while Hafiz Bek and Prasanna Sivakumar scored 13 points each for India.

Squash

Sri Lankan men and women bagged respective bronze medals. Sri Lanka men won two matches while the women played three won 1 and lost two.

Boxing

Gold: Rumesh Sandakelum (Men’s Light Heavy 81kg)

Silver: Ayoma Dulanji (Women’s Feather 57kg)

Bronze: Buwaneka Eranda (Men’s Super-Heavy +91kg); Nilmini Athauda (Women’s Fly 51kg),Lasindu Eranda (Men’s Fly 52kg) and Nissanka Jeevantha (Men’s Light 60kg)

Final medal tally of the 13^th South Asian Games 2019 in Nepal