Gold for Sri Lanka at Commonwealth Games after 2 decades

Sri Lankan javelin throw champion Rumesh Tharanga won the gold medal at the 23rd Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Competing in the men's javelin throw event in the early hours of today local time, Tharanga secured the gold medal with a throw of 89.75 metres, marking Sri Lanka's first gold medal at this year's tournament.

Speaking after his victory, Rumesh Tharanga said he was delighted to have won the medal and described it as the best performance of his javelin throw career.

India's Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra claimed the silver medal with a throw of 85.83 metres, while fellow Indian athlete Yashvir Singh secured the bronze medal.

Sri Lanka's latest gold medal comes 20 years after Chinthana Vidanage won gold in weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

This also marks Sri Lanka's first gold medal in an athletics event in 76 years, since Duncan White won gold in the 400-metre hurdles at the Commonwealth Games in 1950.

With this victory, Sri Lanka's total number of Commonwealth Games gold medals has increased to six. Previous gold medallists for Sri Lanka include Barney Henricus in 1938, Duncan White in 1950, Pushpamali Ramanayake and Mali Wickramasinghe in 1994, and Chinthana Vidanage in 2006.