The stellar achievement of Tharushi Karunaratne, who won the coveted Gold Medal in the 800 metres event at the 19th Edition of the Asian Games (Asiad) in China, has galvanised the entire nation. After all, Sri Lanka gained a Gold Medal at an Asiad after 21 long years.
Just 19, Karunaratne earned Sri Lanka its first Asian Games Gold medal in Hangzhou with a timing of 2.03.20. It was also the first Gold medal for the country in track and field since Busan (Korea) 2002 when ace sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe won the women’s 100 m final and Damayanthi Darsha won the women’s 400 m final. Susanthika, of course, won Silver at the Sydney Olympics two years earlier at the 200 m event.
Karunaratne overtook race leader Wang Chunyu of China in the last 50 metres and smiled joyously, pumping her right fist, as she crossed the tape first. Then she embraced the National Flag and waved to the crowds, though admittedly only a few Sri Lankans were physically present in the stadium.
India’s Harmilan Bains, the daughter of famous Indian track star Madhuri Singh who took the Silver at the identical event at Busan 2002, won the Silver with a timing of 2:03.75 and Wang the bronze in 2:03.90.
“I took up athletics as I wanted to follow in my elder brother’s footsteps. He used to travel overseas a lot for competitions and I also wanted to do that. I am happy I followed him as my dream has come true tonight, winning a gold medal for my country,” said Karunaratne, who is the reigning Asian champion in the 800 m event.
She was not done for the night. Coming out just 45 minutes later, she anchored Sri Lanka to a bronze medal in the women’s 4×400 m relay showing utter determination as she overtook the Chinese anchor in the last leg with just 100 metres to the finish line. The other members of the team were Nadeesha Ramanayake, Jayeshi Uththara and Lakshima Mendis.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe was the first to congratulate Tharushi by phone following her magnificent victory while all Ministers and MPs commended her achievement in Parliament the next day. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has also extended a substantial amount of funding (Rs.10 million initially) for her training expenses. More sponsors are likely to come forward to help Tharushi in the days ahead.
Sri Lanka has bagged several more medals during this Asiad. Nadeesha Dilhani Lekamge bagged Silver in the women’s javelin throw with a personal best throw of 61.57 m. The men’s 4×400 metres relay team anchored by Kalinga Kumarage secured the third place behind India and Qatar. Just two days after missing the mixed relay Silver medal for an infringement of the strict lane rules, Aruna Dharshana and Kumarage did their part together with Pabasara Niku and Rajitha Rajakaruna to return a time of 3:02.55 seconds.
All these sports men and women had previously excelled at the Asian Athletics Championship held in Bangkok in July. In fact, Tharushi set a new Asian Championship Record for the same event in Bangkok, winning the Gold while compatriot Nadeesha Ramanayake won the 400 m event. In fact, Tharushi also clinched the Gold medal in the women’s 800 m event and the Silver medal in the women’s 400 m competition at the 20th Asian Under-20 Junior Athletic Championships in Yecheon, South Korea.
These are exceptional achievements by any standards and the nation owes these young sports people a debt of gratitude for putting Sri Lanka on the global sports map and for ending the medals drought.
Tharushi’s story is particularly moving as she hails from a remote school (Ratnayake Central College, Walala) with minimal facilities for training. Many websites and newspapers highlighted the fact that she was once turned away by a security guard at a sports ground in Digana, off Kandy, for not having the entrance fee of Rs.30. That humiliation may have contributed in no small measure to her determination to clinch a Gold at an international meet.
Now, she has clinched several in Asia, with her sights firmly set on Paris 2024 Olympics. Granted, the Olympics will have top-tier athletes from the US, Caribbean and African nations, but as Susanthika Jayasinghe proved in 2000, an Olympic medal is not an impossible goal if one is determined enough. Incidentally, both Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Darsha, who are both household names in Sri Lanka, came from similar rural backgrounds. There is no doubt that Tharushi and her compatriots will reach the same heights.
Poverty remains a barrier for entry into sports in Sri Lanka, not to mention the lack of sports facilities at many rural schools. Not many aspiring athletes (or netballers and volleyballers for that matter) can afford to buy a pair of sports shoes that can cost up to Rs.40,000. Dietary supplements and vitamins too are expensive, apart from other training gear. Transport to and accommodation in Colombo and other major cities for training is also a severe drain on the meager financial resources of their families.
Some Sri Lankan athletes including sprinter Yupun Abeykoon have secured sponsorships for training overseas. We hope that more sponsors will come forward to secure overseas training opportunities for Tharushi and her relay team mates. They should be sent to compete in more overseas tournaments – they may always be not be able to win Gold, but that experience counts for the future as most of them are still teenagers.
Given that almost all these athletics prodigies have come from rural backgrounds, Sri Lanka’s athletics administrators should send talent scouts to sports meets and provincial athletics meets to unearth more future talent. They can then be provided with all facilities and coached by expert trainers with international meets in mind. If at least 50 out of a pool of 100 can succeed at South Asian and Asian levels, that will be a victory. One must also not forget the differently-abled – most international meets now feature a separate Paralympics section where they can compete. Sri Lankans have excelled recently in this arena as well.
These victories should also make us ponder on the prominence given to cricket in this country. Granted, it is perhaps the only team sport where we have reached the pinnacle, having won the 1996 Willis World Cup in Lahore, Pakistan. Nevertheless, cricket is an enormously expensive sport. If one compares a cricketer and a track and field athlete, the costs borne by the latter are much less. Sri Lanka Cricket, the richest sports body in the country, should extend a helping hand to develop other team and individual sports. Cricket (our men’s team is now competing in Cricket’s showpiece event in India) must flourish in Sri Lanka but it must also be a catalyst for other sports and their stars to shine globally.
