High Jumper Manjula Kumara won Sri Lanka’s only gold medal so far at the championship when he beat the host nation’s Huang Haiqiang in a close fight in the men’s high jump on the penultimate day of the Asian Athletics Championships in Guangdong Olympic Stadium in Guangzhou, China on Friday (13).

Kumara cleared the bar at 2.23 metres to win the gold.

The USA based athlete ended a gold medal drought for Sri Lanka after its athletes failed to win a single gold medal during the first three days. Apart from Manjula, the only other athlete to win a medal was team captain Chaminda Wijekoon.

Wijekoon won the silver medal in the men’s 1500 metres on the second day of the championship.

Meanwhile, Chandika Subashini was placed sixth in the women’s 200 metres in a time of 24.21 seconds.