CHINTHANA AND HANSANI BEST WEIGHTLIFTERS
Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist (2006) Chinthana Vidanage and Hansani Gomes emerged the Best Weightlifters (men and women) at the 43rd National Sports Festival (NSF) Weightlifting Championships which took place at the Polonnaruwa National Sports Complex. The event was conducted by the Department of Sports Development.
Vidanage (North Western Province) in the 77 kg weight category performed the Snatch with 132kg. In the clean and jerk, he performed 170kg to be adjudged the Best Weightlifter among men.
Gomes from the Western Province participated in the 48kg weight category is and lifted 70kg in the snatch. In the clean and jerk she cleared 83kg. She was selected as the Best Weightlifter for women for this performance.
A Sri Lankan record was set in the 77kg where Indika Dissanayake snatched 136kg. The earlier record by Vidanage was in 2010, which stood at 133 kg. However Indika could manage only second position in this event.
The men’s championship was won by the North Central Province where three gold, one silver and one bronze was annexed.
The joint runners-up were Central and North Western Province. Both bagged two gold, two silver and two bronze medals each.
The women’s championship was won by the Western Province with two gold medals. The runners-up were the North Western Province.