Sri Lankan sprinter Aruna Dharshana won gold in the Men’s 400m event at the Taiwan Athletics Open 2024.

Dharshana claimed first place in the final on Saturday (01) with a timing of 45.82 seconds.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Tharushi Karunarathne also won gold in the Women’s 400m event with a timing of 52.48 seconds at the Taiwan Athletics Open – 2024.

Taiwan Athletics Open is a bronze-level tournament on the World Athletics Continental Tour with crucial ranking points.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has called on President Ranil Wickremesinghe to hand over the United National Party (UNP) headquarters, Sirikotha, to their party. 

This demand was made public yesterday by SJB’s election manager, Sujeewa Senasinghe, during a media briefing.

“We have a right to claim Sirikotha as we are former UNPers,” he said.

Expressing concerns about UNP’s current plight, Senasinghe also said “We hope that UNP leader will work according to his conscience and handover the Sirikotha to us. He should do so, for the sake of the remaining UNPers. Some of his sins would be forgiven if he hands over Sirikotha to us,” he said.

“We were compelled to form SJB as we were not able to remove Wickremesinghe from the UNP leadership,” he added.

In the meantime, Senasinghe referred to the remark made by UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara who called for a referendum to extend the terms of the President and Parliament where he said it is unbelievable as to how he could had become pro-Wickremesinghe. “Range Bandara was one of the staunch anti-Wickremesinghe figure in the UNP those days.

He was at the forefront with us to change the UNP leadership during that time. I am the one who stopped him from crossing over to the 52-day government formed in 2018. He was offered a ministerial portfolio by SLPP during that time,” Senasinghe said.

Maldives Foreign Affairs Minister Moosa Zameer is set to embark on an official visit to Sri Lanka from June 3 to 6.

During his stay, Minister Zameer will engage in high-level discussions with key Sri Lankan leaders, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

The visit will also feature official bilateral talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, PC, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

These discussions are expected to cover a range of topics aimed at strengthening the diplomatic and economic ties between the two island nations.

Zameer will be accompanied by senior Foreign Ministry officials.