Lahiru Achintha Creates History with Sri Lanka’s First Asian Youth Games Gold

Lahiru Achintha, a 16-year-old schoolboy from St. Aloysius’ College, Rathnapura, created history on Thursday night by winning Sri Lanka’s first-ever gold medal at the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

The middle-distance runner clocked 3 minutes 57.42 seconds in the 1500m final, finishing ahead of China’s Lihua Sha—who was the only other athlete to break the four-minute barrier.

This marks Sri Lanka’s first gold medal across all three editions of the Asian Youth Games, which were previously held in 2009 and 2013, and now in 2025.

Achintha is already regarded as one of Sri Lanka’s brightest middle-distance prospects, with two international medals to his name. Trained by Chamil Bothota, he had earlier won a bronze medal in the 1500m at the Asian Under-18 Athletics Championship in Saudi Arabia, clocking 3:57.90 seconds.

Meanwhile, the 1500m event also produced Sri Lanka’s first medal of the 2025 Games, as Nethmi Gimhani claimed bronze. The youngster from St. Andrew’s College, Puttalam, finished with a time of 4 minutes 52.32 seconds.