Chinese walker wins Sri Lankan hearts

Colombo - Sportsmanship was displayed at the ongoing 15th Asian Junior Athletics Championships when a young Chinese walker presented his new pair of shoes to Sri Lankan runner who walked bare-foot Tuesday.

Zhang Zhi, who took bronze in the 10,000-metre race walking in 45 minutes 05 seconds, gave his shoes to D.W. Pradeep Madushanka who was two laps behind him and completed at ninth, Xinhua reported.

“I was so touched by his generous act of giving a new pair of shoes which he had worn only for this event,” said Madushanka with a sense of gratitude.

“One reason for me to run bare-foot was that I did not have a good pair of shoes,” said Madushanka, a soldier coming from a rural village of Tissamaharamaya in southern Sri Lanka.

Madushanka is one of the troops from the Sri Lankan Army competing at the Asian Junior Athletic Championships.

The spectators witnessed Zhang removed his shoes as soon as he completed the race and handed them over to the Sri Lankan runner.

“This is genuine display of real sportsmanship that serves the meaning of sports,” said a technical officer.