Ten Sri Lankan weightlifters (6 men and 4 women) have qualified to compete at the Commonwealth Games which is scheduled to be held from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England.
The performances from the period of January 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022 is considered for this qualification while Sri Lankans who really performed well at the last Commonwealth weightlifting championship in Uzbekistan last December and Singapore International championships held in Singapore last February get a chance to complete the required qualifying standard.
The experienced Chintana Geethal Vidhanage who won a gold medal in 2006 Commonwealth Games from 62kg and silver medal from 2010 Commonwealth Games from 69kg this time qualified to compete from 81kg while Indika Dissanayake who won the silver medal in 2018 Commonweralth Games from 69kg this time has qualified to compete the 73kg.Dissanayake and Vidhanage are the two most experienced lifters of the Sri Lankan contingents.
Meanwhile Chaturanga Lakmal the bronze medalist (56kg) of the last Commonwealth Games this time qualified for 67kg is the other previous Commonwealth Games medalist in the Sri Lanka team. Dilanka Isuru Kumara, Ushan Charuka, and Thilanka Palangasinghe are the other qualified Sri Lankan men’s players .
Meanwhile promising women’s weightlifter Srimali Samarakoon who won gold medals at the last Commonwealth Championships in Uzbekistan and Singapore International easily qualified to take part in this Commonwealth Games and she already has well improved for this 49kg weight category.
Thrimali Haputenna, Chathurika Priyanthi and Chamari Warnakulasuriya are the other three women’s weightlifters for the Commonwealth Games.
At the 2018 Commonweath Games Sri Lanka won three medals silver from Indika Dissanayake while two bronze from Chaturanga Lakmal and Hansani Gomes and this time once again Sri Lankans have a good chance to gain medals in this major event. Gomes couldn’t qualify to compete this time while Sudesh Peiris the 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist also did not qualify.
Sri Lankan qualified weightlifters for the Commonwealth Games:
Men’s: Ushan Charuka (+109kg), Chinthana Vidhanage( 81kg,) Indika Dissanayake (73kg,) Chathuranga Lakmal (67kg,),Thilanka Palagasinghe (61kg),Dilanka Isuru Kumara (55kg,)
Women’s: Trimalee Haputenne (+87kg),Chathurika Priyanthi (87kg), Chamari Warnakulasuriya (55kg ),Srimali Samarakoon (49kg).
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