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Sri Lanka Army

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15th September 2016 18:15:42 Hours

Javelin Throwing Dinesh Priyantha Wins a Bronze Medal for Sri Lanka in Paralympics - 2016

The Army's retired Corporal Dinesh Priyantha Herath of 3 Gajaba Regiment (GR) Tuesday (13) won the Bronze Medal in Men's Javelin Throw event in Paralympics 2016, now in progress at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. 

Corporal Dinesh Priyantha Herath (Retd) was wounded in Kilinochchi during the final stages of the humanitarian operations on 16 December 2008 and retired from the Army on medical grounds.  

Priyantha became the second Sri Lankan to have won a medal at Paralympics, covering a distance of 58.23 meters, an individual record of the best. 

In the same event, India's Devandra Jhaharia won Gold with a new world record of 63.97 meters and Guo Chunliang of China secured the silver with a distance of 59.93 meters. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army's Lance Corporal Gamini Ekanayake of Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) finished 9th with a distance of 48.84 m.

This is Sri Lanka's second Paralympic medal. In 2012, Pradeep Sanjaya won a bronze in men's 400 m T46 in the Paralympics.