Sri Lankan teen middle-distance runner Tarushi Abisheka won the girls’ 1500m gold at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong on Thursday, clocking 4 minutes 31.41 seconds, Newswire reported.
Abisheka finished ahead of Iran’s Maryam Baluoutaki in silver and South Korea’s Song Dawson in bronze. She also competes in the 800m at the championships.
The continental meet, held in Hong Kong, has drawn athletes from 40 countries across 46 events. Sri Lanka is fielding a 22-member team — 15 men and seven women.
The result keeps Sri Lankan junior athletics in continental medal contention after recent regional podium finishes including Sumedha Dilhani’s silver in the Asian Throwing Championships at Mokpo earlier this month and Nipuni Wasana’s gold at the Asian Beach Games. The government’s national athletes employment scheme — a cabinet-approved arrangement to provide state jobs to medal-winning athletes — has been one of the few sustained sports-policy levers backing the country’s track and field pipeline through the current Asian cycle.
