It was such a joy and honour to meet up with an active living legend Summa Navaratnam at his residence in Borella.
During the 1940s and ‘50s Summa was the cynosure of all eyes as he streaked through at lightning speed to score brilliant tries on the rugby field while in athletics he scattered the springs of grass on the turf with his brilliant sprints to smash many Sri Lanka and Asia records in 1953.
Summa is a household name, having won international acclaim for his athleticism and rugby skills. In 1953, Summa was dubbed “Asia’s Fastest Human” and “Fastest Man in Asia”, when he broke the existing 100m record at the Indian States Olympic Meet in Chennai (then Madras) running neck and neck with Lavy Pinto, the best of the Indian sprinters.
His best time of 10.4 seconds surpassed both the Indian and Asian records and compared well with the 1948 London Olympic record of 10.3 seconds and the Helsinki Olympic record of 10.4 secs. He was not only known as the “Fastest man in Asia” but weathered many a storm in life and sailed on in great style to be a winner as the fastest winger on the rugby fields excelling for Royal College and then CR and FC and Sri Lanka.
“They don’t make such a calibre of giants and better,” was the description of the legendary sportsman who had an enormous impact on athletics and as a dazzling runner with the rugby ball. He was also a superb tackler.
Summa is the son of the late SS Navaratnam the former Ceylon Civil Servant and KT Navaratnam, the daughter of Dr. CS Ratnam and was born on May 21, 1925 in the remote village of Araly North in Vadukodai in the Jaffna peninsula.
His civil servant father wanted him groomed in the traditions of the British Public Schools and so Royal College was chosen for him. He was a stylish boxer representing Royal College at the Stubbs Shield meet of 1939 in the Bantam weight class.
At the early age of 15, he was awarded College Colours for athletics and boxing in 1940 and he remains to date as the youngest athlete to achieve this at Royal College. In 1943, he became the champion Junior Athlete at Royal, winning the U14, U16 and Best Performance Cup at the Public Schools Meet and Schools AAA.
In the same year Summa won the 200m and 400m events in the Public Schools Meet with some excellent timing and was also a key member of the 4x100m winning relay quartet, anchoring the team. On one occasion, he faced a major dilemma whether to run his pet event the 100m or to help the College win the relays and thus the major trophies.
He sacrificially decided to run only in the relays which finally gave Royal both the Tarbat and Jafferson trophies. This unselfish act also won him respect and high praise from the team mates, as he epitomized the character and spirit of sportsmanship to put school before self and team before individual glory. He was an exceptional talented athlete who captained the Royal athletic team in 1942 and 1943. In 1945, Summa represented Ceylon in the dual meet against India and won the 4x100m relay running with outstanding athletes such as Duncan White, R. E. Kitto and Basil Henricus.
At the Nationals in 1944, 1946 and 1947 he carried away the Wilton Bartleet Tropy for the best individual performance in his pet event. In 1950 Summa had the opportunity of representing his country at the Empire and Commonwealth Gamesin Auckland, New Zealand in the 100 and 4x100 relay.
He missed inclusion in the Ceylon team for the 1948 London Olympic Games due to nepotism on the part of the then selectors. In 1953 he had a unique experience, when he had to participate in the 100m international event of the Ceylon AAA Nationals and he was scheduled to represent Ceylon in a rugby international game against the Australian Colts.
Summa rushed to the CH and FC rugby ground at 4 pm immediately after the international athletics event, a rare feature for anyone to be representing the country in two international sports event on the same day.
In those old days in Sri Lanka local athletes ran on grass tracks only, not on any special tracks. If Summa had these facilities in Sri Lanka then, one would well imagine the results and enhanced timing.
In his later years, his expertise as an athletics coach produced five classy athletes around the 1960s. To name a few were Darrell Lieversz (Royal College 200m and 400m National Champ), Lakshman de Alwis (St. Anthony’s College, Kandy, Sri Lanka’s Champion sprinter and later National coach), Nirmala Dissanayake, (200m) Lorraine Ratnam (100m Champion – 1960 Asian Games) and Jilska Flamer-Caldera (80m hurdles champ). He still helps in coaching the junior rugby and has been a long standing rugby coordinating coach for Royal College Rugby Academy. Summa climbed the ladder of success the hard way and his wonderful sporting achievements were the result of solid work, dedication, a sense of selfless sacrifice and relentless commitment to training.
With regard to schools rugby his advice is: “Start them young, get them fit first, teach and drill the basic skills into them until it is perfected. Do not teach them to run before they can walk.”
Summa and his wife Romaine (presently in Australia) are blessed with a son and a daughter. The happily married couple are now grandparents of four children. So, the saga of Summa concluded with an answer on how he kept fit and youthful. Being active and “on the ball” has done him good and nothing works better than faith in God.