Promising teenager Malith Thamel has already struck it big for 4000 students at De Mazenod College turning down offers from Colombo’s elite schools:
Imagine the occasion. Four Sri Lankan schoolboys away from home taking up position to run the 4X100 relay at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Dubai taunted or verbalized by an Indian quartet that drove psychological fear into the foursome.
In reality the four Sri Lankan boys, Malith Thamel, Dineth Weeraratne, Vidusara Vidushan and Meron Wijesinghe bravely took up the challenge thrown at them and were determined to have the last laugh which they did by winning the Silver medal last week. The Indians had to settle for the third place and learnt a bitter lesson how not to motivate unknown rivals.
“It was our first time sporting the Sri Lanka flag on the track and we were under a lot of tension and fear not knowing what to expect. But then the Indians cast some bad remarks at us. That was when we picked up strength and said to ourselves let’s show them who we are,” said Malith Themel who led from the front taking the first lap in an interview with the Sunday Observer.
Thamel, an Advanced Level student at De Mazenod College in Kandana knew that the entire weight of the relay team rested on his shoulders and with no margin for error they had to give it their best shot.
“The first lap can be the most important and a slight miss can mean the end of the race for the rest of the team. We did not mind losing to any other country at a clean and hard race, but amid the intimidation we bonded like boys from one family,” said Malith looking back. “We now have a great friendship”.
Malith eventually became the first schoolboy from De Mazenod College to represent his country as a teenager at a full blown Asian championship since the school was founded in 1931 and his personal coach Anuradha Nanayakkara sees him with potential to target the 2028 Olympics.
But what of Malith’s three other relay members who, from total strangers before the Dubai meet, have now become a fiercely jelled band of brothers ready to take on the best in Asia.
Malith Thamel the reigning Sri Lanka Under-20 champion in the 200 metres with his trophies including the Silver at the Asian Junior Championships (Pic: Sudath Malaweera)
Two of them Vidusara Vidushan and Meron Wijesinghe hail from Ananda College while the fourth member Dineth Weeraratne is a student at Leeds International School in Matara.
As for Malith, he was just eight years old when he accompanied his devout father Sisira and his doting mother Lakmali to see his elder brother Dinuk at a schools meet that was to change his destiny.
That day everything turned around for Malith and it did not take long before his personal coach Anuradha Nanayakkara spotted him practicing on the track and asked him if he was serious about athletics.
“He (Nanayakkara) told me he could make me into a champion runner and I never looked back after that meeting with him. He even told me the Olympics can have a place for me,” said Malith.
Malith was given a rousing welcome at De Mazenod College after he returned with the Silver medal from the Junior Asian championship with both boys and girls from the mixed school jostling to meet their new hero that the school had been praying to showcase.
“I cannot forget the day I felt so important that I did something not only for my country but also for my school that has 4000 students”, said Malith.
But what advice will Malith have for any other budding athlete in an age when professionalism for a sportsman or sportswoman can start from teens. “Win the race in your mind before you can do it physically and that is what we were told and how to prepare for the big event,” said Malith who runs in both the 100 and 200.
In 2019 he was adjudged the best athlete at the prestigious John Tarbet all-island schools meet as a 14-year old and many schools in Colombo made attempts to grab him with offers of better prospects and more opportunities.
But being the country boy that he is, Malith politely turned down offers from talent hunters at the elite Royal College, St. Benedict’s College, St. Joseph’s College and Lyceum International School preferring to stick to his proud village heritage and be the ambassador and role model for De Mazenod College.
“I thought to myself what would happen to my school and my fellow students if I leave and join another school. I thought I’ll stay back. This is my school and this is my home,” said Malith who finished first in the Trials at the 200 metres to select Sri Lanka’s runners for the Junior Asian meet.
He is currently the reigning Under-20 champion in the 200 metres on the local scene with a time of 21.50 seconds. Their timing of 39.81 seconds to win the Silver medal at the Junior Asian meet is also a new Sri Lanka record that rewrote the record books after eight years.
