They are not of the pampered kind like the able-bodied Olympians but they are the true sporting ambassadors of a nation exploited for self-gain:
When Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, first took part in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, there was much more than a swagger as four of the country’s finest pugilists and three athletes competed with aplomb.
Hurdler Duncan White went on to become a legend winning a silver and the country’s first Olympic medal. Boxers Albert Perera and Alex Obeyesekere went on to win medals at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland. Then there was high jumper Nagalingam Ethirveerasingham who represented Ceylon at the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Games where the Jayasuriya boxing brothers CP and HP fought their hearts out. Rome 1960 saw Sumith Liyanage knocking down the reigning European champion Jerzy Adamski in the first round but losing on points to the eventual silver medallist.
Tokyo 1964 saw R Karunananda entering Olympic folklore by completing the 10,000m race alone amid applause. In the rarefied atmosphere of the 1968 Mexico Games Wimalasena Perera ran the marathon with 36 injections.
Those were heady days indeed with men and women of character who shaped the character of the Olympics for generations to come. They embodied the spirit of Olympism though Sri Lanka required a phenomenon Susanthika Jayasinghe to win the country’s second Olympic medal in Sydney 2000.
Fast forward to Tokyo 2021 where there was a swagger of a different kind from the country’s Olympic representatives. It was all about marketing hype with participants assembling from the United States, Germany, Thailand, Italy and even Japan in what was pitched as a high-profile blitz by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan sports fans never expected them to produce an Olympic medal but the nine Sri Lankans who paraded themselves as superstars not only came up woefully short but their overall attitude was deplorable to say the least.
Men’s flag bearer judoka Chamara Nuwan Gunawardena stormed out without even meeting the touring Sri Lanka media after being knocked out within 30 seconds, swimmers Matthew Abeysinghe and Aniqah Gaffoor failed to come anywhere near their personal best timings, shooter Tehani Egodawela sent without her coach was the first to be eliminated along with veteran shuttle star Niluka Karunaratne. The 18-year-old artistic gymnast Milka Gehani de Silva to her credit retained her Asian ranking while Italy-based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon was mildly apologetic on social media after running nowhere his best of 10.16 seconds but took umbrage at the fact that a newspaper headline chided him for cutting a pathetic figure. Late entry 800m Nimali Liyanarachchi was left huffing and puffing while showjumper Matilda Karlsson’s Chopin froze when Sri Lanka made equestrian history.
The worst part was that the Sri Lankans were wondering whether the Olympians were representing the country or personal sponsors during the event. The pride for the national flag was more evident among world class athletes. This was redressed to some extent but after the damage had been done. So much for the best laid plans of Sri Lanka’s NOC, they had only one athlete standing to carry the national flag during the closing ceremony. The super stars had quietly slunk stealthily with sneering promises of fighting back another day to bring glory at the 2022 Commonwealth or Asian Games. It appeared they just wanted to go down in history as an Olympian without any significant achievement to boast.
Now these athletes are trying to take the country’s sports authorities up the garden path with a mirage at Paris 2024 or Los Angeles 2028. It’s better they move aside gracefully and give way to the real heroes who are eager to put their life and limbs on the line on yet another occasion to bring glory to the country at the upcoming Tokyo Paralympic Games. These are not empty boasts but determination is written on their faces and are hungry for success. They don’t have super status, the frenzy of corporate backing or a media bandwagon to accompany them. In fact, they left without much fanfare on Friday barely carrying their bootstraps with them like poor cousins. Their desire to excel comes from the heart and their conscience is clear because they are the unsung heroes who have a genuine desire deep within not just to achieve personal glory but to fly the national flag high. They would rather pay homage to Sri Lanka’s national emblem on their performance kit than kiss any private sponsor.
Sri Lanka’s Paralympians have made giant strides since making their debut in 1996 in Atlanta, winning two bronze medals through athletes Pradeep Sanjaya (London 2012) and Dinesh Priyantha Herath (Rio 2016).
Para sports has given a new lease of life to wounded war veterans after a 30-year war.
Sri Lanka’s National Paralympic Committee (NPC) formed in 1995 oversaw steady progress at international level from just one athlete in Atlanta to have the largest representation of nine in three disciplines at the last Paralympics in Rio. This number will be equalled at the upcoming Games in Tokyo where their leading Para athlete and team captain Herath will aim to convert his bronze into a gold.
Also making his second appearance in the Paralympics will be another javelin thrower Sampath Hettiarachchi (F64), a silver medallist at the 2018 Para Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Sri Lanka has competed in athletics, swimming, powerlifting, archery and tennis in the past. Rowing will be the latest addition. Their team to Tokyo comprise six athletes, an archer, a wheelchair tennis player and a rower.
“For the first time in Paralympic history, rowing got a slot. We won our first medal in 2012 and second in 2016. Our hope is to double the number of medals in Tokyo. Our main medal prospects are in athletics. Our expectation is for at least five athletes to compete for a medal by entering the finals going by their efforts and sacrifices to reach this level,” said NPC President Lt Col Deepal Herath.
Two-time silver medallist in the Javelin F46 category at the World Para Athletics Championship in London (2017) and Dubai (2019), Herath will be spearheading Sri Lanka’s historic quest for that elusive gold.
Herath and Samitha Dulan Kodituwakku were the only two athletes to qualify directly - Herath by virtue of his silver medal in Dubai where Dulan came fourth in the F44 Javelin (57.1m).
A gold medallist at the Asian Para Games, 30-year-old Army Corporal Dulan is considered a hot medal prospect.
Although there were five more athletes within the Tokyo qualifying standard, Sri Lanka were offered only two slots to Palitha Bandara (F42 shot put) and Saman Maduranga Subasinghe (T46 400m).
Subasinghe is in fine form after winning a silver at the Fazza Grand Prix in Dubai.
The other two athletes Chaminda Sampath Hettiarachchi (T64 Javelin) and Dissanayake Mudiyansalege Kumudu Priyanka (T45/46 100m, Long Jump) received what is called Bipartite Invitation Places.
Bronze medallist in the 2018 Asian Games long jump with a leap of 4.51m, 33-year-old Kumudu Priyanka lost both her wrists after handling an explosive device by accident at the age of 16, suffering loss of vision in one eye and both her wrists.
Priyanka, who is attached to the MAS Holdings, will compete in the T45/46 100m, and long jump events after having qualified for the Games through a Bipartite Invitation.
She won a Bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games long jump with a leap of 4.51m and reached her personal best of 4.89m at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai, UAE last February.
Priyanka first participated at the Para Athletic Championship in 2006 and won Gold Medals in long jump and 100m events.
Kumudu Priyanka will create history as Sri Lanka’s only female athlete for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, which will be held in the Japanese city from August 24 to September 5.
In addition, the 33-year-old is only the second Sri Lankan women’s competitor after Amara Indumathi to represent the country in the history of Paralympics. Indumathi represented Sri Lanka at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics in London and Rio de Janeiro respectively.
Priyanka’s participation at the Tokyo Paralympics is even more significant because she is the only civilian in the nine-member Sri Lankan contingent. The rest of the eight competitors are all attached to the Army and Navy.
Archer exponent Sampath Bandara also returns as a two-time Paralympian having taken part in Rio. “Getting the chance to represent the country in two successive Para Games is a great achievement and my aim is to win a medal,” said the 32-year-old who finished ranked 16th in Rio.
Bandara, who lost his left leg below the knee during the civil war in 2009 after stepping on an anti-personnel mine, has a world ranking of 34 in Recurve Men.
Asian Para Games Silver medallist Palitha Bandara will make his debut at the Tokyo Paralympics. The 28-year-old will compete in the F42 shot put event.
Mahesh Priyamal Jayakody, a paraplegic who was also injured in the battle front, will be rowing for glory in the PR1 Men 1X Single Sculls. Sri Lanka will compete in the rowing events for the first time when Jayakody makes his entry at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Jayakody, who represented the Army Special Force Sports Club, won a Gold medal at the 2021 Asian Continental Regatta in Tokyo, which paved the way for him to obtain a place at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Earlier, Jayakody secured a Silver medal in the Asian Para Championship in 2019 and has dominated this sport, at all major local tournaments.
Lasantha Welikala accompanies Jayakody as the rowing coach.
When Jayakody was only 20 years old, he joined the Army as a soldier on February 12, 2007 at Minneriya and enlisted in the First Special Forces regiment after completing basic training. He took part in the last humanitarian operation in Kokavil and was severely wounded on April 07, 2009 at Pudukudirippu and was paraplegic to be transferred and treated at the Army hospital until 2012.
After treatment in 2012, Jayakody started his sporting career with wheelchair dancing and won a few national events conducted by the NPC before he was encouraged to take-up para-rowing in 2015 by Col. Bandara and introduced to coach Lasantha Welikala. Jayakody attended a training camp along with his coach in China in 2015 and took part in the Asian Championships thereafter. He contested several international events in Italy in 2016 and 2017, World Rowing Championship in Bulgaria in 2018, Asian Championship 2019 in Korea where he won Silver and became the first Sri Lankan rower to win an Asian Championship in any form of the game and qualified for the Asia Oceania Continental Paralympic qualification in Japan in April this year to secure a direct slot for Paralympics 2020 a historic moment for Sri Lanka as no rower whether able or differently-able had rowed at this level of competition since 1864.
Last but not least in the Sri Lanka team is wheelchair tennis star Ranjan Dharmasena who received a Bipartite Invitation after his excellent performance in the World Team Cup Qualification rounds held in Portugal, where he beat some of the top rankers from Israel, Croatia and Greece to remain unbeaten.
At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, Sri Lanka won their first Paralympic medal through Pradeep Sanjaya, who won the Bronze medal in the Men’s 400 meters T46. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Sri Lanka won a bronze when Dinesh Priyantha Herath was placed third in the men’s javelin throw F46 final.
NPC president Lt Col Deepal Herath said that nine competitors from four sports representing Sri Lanka at the Tokyo Paralympics is a great achievement by para athletes during this period especially due to lack of competitions amid the pandemic situation. Two coaches Pradeep Nishantha and Harjan Ratnayake (from athletics), Major General Rajeewa Wickremasinghe (archery coach), Lasantha Welikala (rowing coach) and Jagath Welikala (wheelchair tennis coach) accompany the team.
The former President of the NPC Major General (rtd) Rajitha Ampemohotti has been named as the Chef de Mission of the team.