Commonwealth Games medallists Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage and Palitha Bandara arrived back in Sri Lanka on Tuesday afternoon, landing at Bandaranaike International Airport to an official welcome.
The contingent travelled via Dubai on Emirates flight EK-650, which touched down at around 4.50 p.m. A welcome ceremony was held at the airport’s VIP terminal under the patronage of Deputy Minister of Sports Sugath Thilakaratne, attended by officials, family members and representatives of sporting institutions.
A gold 20 years in the making
Rumesh Tharanga won the men’s javelin title at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow with a throw of 89.75 metres, beating India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra into silver.
It was Sri Lanka’s first ever gold in athletics at a Commonwealth Games, and the country’s first Commonwealth gold in any sport for 20 years — since weightlifter Chinthana Vidanage won at the 2006 Melbourne Games, Ada Derana reported.
Palitha Bandara had earlier claimed Sri Lanka’s first medal of the 2026 Games, taking silver in the men’s F42-44/F61-64 discus with a throw of 46.84 metres.
