Manama, Bahrain, October 23, 2025: Lahiru Achintha, who comes from a town famous for Sri Lanka’s legendary blue sapphires, produced a gem of a run to give the island-nation its first ever gold medal at the Asian Youth Games.
While China stormed to the top of the medal standings on day two of the Bahrain AYG by grabbing five gold medals, it was Sri Lankan Lahiru who would have caught the eye of Asian Athletics President Dahlan Al-Hamad - among the VIPs on the opening night of athletics - with his record-breaking run.
The Chinese juggernaut at the Bahrain National Stadium was halted by Lahiru whose landmark victory in the Boys’ 1500 final came courtesy of a Games record.
His record-breaking effort of three minutes 57.42 seconds bettered by more than three seconds the old mark set by Waleed Elayah of Yemen in the inaugural AYG in Singapore in 2009. And it wasn’t even close to his personal best of 3:53.05.
According to World Athletics, apart from Japanese athletes, Lahiru is the fastest in the distance in Asia among athletes born in 2009.
China had dominated proceedings until then, winning five gold medals beginning with Liu Shiyi romping home in the Girls’ 5000m Walk in 24:15.27.
Asia’s sporting powerhouse then added gold medals in the Boys’ Triple Jump with Li Aodi’s effort of 15.15 metres; Boys’ Hammer Throw, Wang Zihao winning with 68.22m; Girls’ Shot Put, Sun Mengyao establishing a Games’ record of 18.15m; and Zhang Keyi winning the Girls’ 100 metre hurdles in 13.51 seconds, another Games record.
The runaway train was halted by Sri Lankan Lahiru, Uzbekistan’s Nazmina Rakhimjonova who won the Girls’ 1500m in 4:51.20, and Qatari Idriss Aboubakar who won the Boys’ 110 metre hurdles in 13.61.
Earlier in the day, on Bahrain’s Gulf coast, Li Yansong and Xu Enge delivered China’s first two golds of the Games winning the Boys’ and Girls’ Individual Super Sprint races, respectively, in the triathlon event.
“This gold is only the beginning of my journey as a real athlete,” Xu was quoted by the Chinese media following the Games. These two gold medals took China’s tally to seven, and as a result overhauling Thailand and Uzbekistan who were neck-and-neck in second place with six golds.
