Oarsman Mahesh secures Tokyo Paralympics berth
Mahesh Jayakody secured a direct entry to the Paralympic Games to be held in Japan this year after finishing first in the PRI Men’s Single Sculls at the Asia and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic rowing qualifiers in Tokyo.
With a wealth of experience in hand, Jayakody dominated the event, leading from start to finish, and became the first para rower to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics Games during the competition. Egamberdiev Kholmorod of Uzbekistan claimed Silver while B. Comnujan of Thailand finished third.
Jayakody secured a silver medal in the Asian Para Rowing Championship in 2019 and has won many awards in a number of local tournaments for rowing.
Dr. Samitha Samanmali, who competed in the Women’s PRI Single Sculls event, finished first runner-up behind the home favourite Tomomi Ichikawa of Japan. Ichikawa, the most experienced athlete having finished 14th in the 2019 World Rowing Championship held in Ottensheim, Austria, went to a podium finish without any major resistance from her competitor. Dr. Samanmali created history by being the first Sri Lankan woman to win a medal at the Asian Para Rowing Championship 2019 held in Chungju, South Korea.
Sri Lanka fielded two competitors in the Men’s and Women’s PRI Single Sculls events while Captain A.M.M.M. Alagiyawanna (coach), Captain M.B.C.H. Liyanage (Asst. Coach) and Lasantha Welikala (Manager) joined the Sri Lankan contingent as officials.
With the achievement of Jayakody, the number of Sri Lankans to have qualified for this year’s Tokyo Paralympic Games increased to four. The Paralympic Committee of Sri Lanka expects the number of athletes to qualify for the Paralympics to go up to seven.
Paralympic bronze and World Para Championship silver medallist Dinesh Priyantha Herath (Javelin F46), Samitha Dulan (Javelin F44) and Sampath Bandara (Archery) have already qualified for the event.
The 6th Summer Paralympic Games is scheduled to be held in Tokyo between August 24 and September 5.