It has been a long wait for javelin thrower Dilhani Lekamge to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games that commenced on Friday (26).
She has been in the sport for 20 long years and never gave up until her dream came through, to represent Sri Lanka at an Olympic Games.
Now she has set a determined target to be among the medal winners this time. Her coach Pradeep Nishantha who will be beside her during the Games to encourage and guide her on the correct technique during her throws.
Dilhani Lekamge
Track and field being the number one Olympic Sport will begin on August 1 and Lekamge has enough experience to face the challenges.
“Qualifying for the final will be her target. We know that it is a tough task but we want to achieve that,” said Pradeep Nishantha.
Lekamge is ranked 25 among the 32 throwers competing at the Paris Games. She is also known to come up with the best shot at big championships. She has improved the national record on more than one occasion before winning medals at Asian level last year.
She improved on the national record when she cleared 60.93 metres before winning the bronze at the Asian Championship last year. Just two months later she won the Silver medal at the Asian Games setting a new national record of 61.57 metres.
Competing against the best in the world to reach the final will be her greatest achievement that will be acknowledged by all Sri Lankans for a long time.
Tharushi Karunaratne is the young Sri Lankan athlete to embark on a big event such as the Olympic Games. She is very energetic and the way she has been performing indicates a bright future ahead of her.
She hails from Ratnayake Central, Walala that is known to have produced many quality middle distance runners, specially the 800 metres to reach national and international level.
She has been proving her coach right from the time she commenced competing as an under-16 athlete, often lowering meet records established by her schoolmate Dilshi Kumarasinghe at junior national level.
Karunaratne’s potential as a future 800 metres specialist would have been spotted by coach Fernando who has been the mentor of many other athletes he has produced during his three decades as coach at Walala.
Karunaratne has a way of keeping pace with the rest of the athletes all the way in the 800 metres event and knows when to catch up with the leaders.
Aruna Darshana is the male athlete who will run the 400m event. He was also an athlete who qualified for the event and that’s something worthy of achievement.
Asanka Rajakaruna coach of Darshana was instrumental in shaping up his career from a very young age and fortunes changed when he moved from Seruwila to Akuramboda with his twin brother.
Dharshana blossomed under the guidance of Rajakaruna and went on to shatter not only the national junior records but also the Asian Junior Championship record.
This coach-athlete combination is likely to go well beyond the next Olympics and historic feats can be expected in the near future.
Badminton
Viren Nettasinghe is the youngster who qualified to participate in the badminton men’s singles event. Much can be expected from him this time around as he has been training overseas for several years.
He will be taking on World No. 7 Lee Zii Jia in his opening encounter today (28).
This match will be a crucial test for the world number 70 ranked Nettasinghe. His second game will be against Spain’s seasoned player Pablo Abian. This should also be a thrilling encounter for Nettasinghe. His progress will be closely watched as it will determine his progress in the tournament.
Swimming:
Ganga Seneviratne is the young swimmer who received a wild card for the Paris Olympics and will be doing the 100m backstroke event and holds a personal best time of one minute 04.08 seconds as the national champion.
Ganga has broken records winning several best swimmer awards and her coach Manoj Abeysinghe said that she has been training in Paris from July 14 and working towards that goal.
“All swimmers who participate in the Olympics have over 1100 FINA points that will help her enhance her performance. She has received a 4-year scholarship from Hungary that will enable her to train and study at a university. This will certainly boost her career in swimming,” said Abeysinghe.
Kyle Abeysinghe, the youngest of the famous brothers is the male swimmer who will swim the 100m freestyle and his progress too will be followed by Sri Lankans just like they did for his elder brothers Andrew, Matthew and Dillon.
