Sarangi Silva

Lakshini Sarangi Silva Sandaradura (; born 27 October 1996), also known as Sarangi de Silva, is a Sri Lankan track and field athlete who has specialized in long jump. She also works as a banker at Seylan Bank. She is the current national title holder in women's long jump in Sri Lanka and is also a current national record holder in the women's long jump with a career best leap of 6.65 meters. She began her pursuit of sports activities at a very young age, when she was in school. She joined Sri Lanka Army as a volunteer after completing her Advanced Level Education. She pursued her Higher National Diploma studies in Business Management at the ICBT Campus.

Career She took part at the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Meet when she was 16 years old and secured fifth position in long jump. She briefly stopped taking part at sport-related activities in 2015 due to GCE Advanced Level Examination. She also claimed a bronze medal in the women's long jump at the 2019 Thailand Open Track and Field Championship. She represented Sri Lanka at the 2019 South Asian Games, which also marked her second appearance at the South Asian Games, and clinched a gold medal in the women's long jump event with a leap clearing a distance of 6.38 meters in the final round. She also claimed another gold medal at the 2019 South Asian Games in the women's 4 × 100 m relay event. She also represented Sri Lanka at the 2019 Military World Games and claimed fourth position in the women's long jump event. She was included as one of the members of the Sri Lankan contingent for the 2020 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, but the tournament was cancelled due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, she surpassed the long-standing national record held by N. C. D. Priyadharshani in the women's long jump during the International Athletics Championships in Turkey by clearing a distance of 6.44 meters. In 2021, she received a special sports scholarship offer from the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka to gain training in Qatar.

She clinched a gold medal in the Athletic Ageneve Meeting 2022 which was held in Geneva, Switzerland. In February 2022, she participated at the National Athletic Trials and broke her own national record in long jump. She was short-listed by Sri Lanka Athletics as one of the track and field athletes to represent Sri Lanka at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as well as to represent Sri Lanka at the 2022 Asian Games. She was eligible for selection based on her performances at the 100th National Athletic Championships which was held in April 2022 where she claimed the national title in the women's long jump event. The 100th National Athletic Championships served as the final trials to select the Sri Lankan contingent for both the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Asian Games.

She received an opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the women's long jump event following the withdrawals of track and field athletes who were supposed to compete at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. World Athletics gave green light to Sarangi Silva's eligibility for participation at the World Athletics Championships by informing Sri Lanka Athletics regarding the withdrawal of two athletes who were ranked among the top 32 in the world rankings. However, Sarangi herself decided to withdraw from the 2022 World Athletics Championships in order to focus and concentrate on her preparations for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. It was also revealed that Sarangi had already made arrangements to obtain training sessions in Turkey specifically targeting the Commonwealth Games, and it was also revealed that the decision to send Sarangi to the 2022 World Athletics Championships would not have been possible in the first place owing to the late announcement by World Athletics. She eventually secured the last position in the women's long jump final among 13 runners by leaping 6.07 meters. Sarangi Silva also set a record by becoming the first Sri Lankan long jumper, either male or female, to qualify for the final round of the Commonwealth Games. She was named in Sri Lankan contingent for the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships and she competed in the women's long jump event. She competed in the women's long jump event at the 2022 Asian Games and finished at sixth place in the final.