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Sports

Dedication and hard work took Umanga up the ladder
By Bilal Yusuf
Umanga Sanjeew Sandaruwan, age 23 is currently the fastest man in Sri Lanka. Umanga's rise to the top is a story of hard work, dedication and perseverance. He schooled at Lumbini Vidyalaya and represented his college junior team in rugby, and began to take Athletics seriously only at the age of 15, once he joined Ananda Athukorale who has been his coach throughout his athletic career.

Umanga said that it was Ananda Athukorale who made him realize his true potential, and stressed the need for him to concentrate solely on athletics and give up playing rugby. "I realized that if I am to become a really fast runner that I would have to devote all my attention to athletics, since Athletics training is completely different to rugby training. In rugby there is a lot of stopping and changing of direction, where as in athletics its one straight run"

Umanga has won the 100 and 200 meter championship at the All Island school championship in the under 17,19,21 age category. In 2002 he was selected to the Sri Lanka national pool and in 2004 he won the 100 meter national trials finishing with a timing of 10.59 seconds. Umanga ran his best hundred in the 2004 SAF games where he clocked 10.56 second, he was unlucky not to win the Gold medal in the finals since he was disqualified in the final due to a false start.

Umanga believes it is very important to be patient for success since he says that took him almost three years to run the hundred at 10.56. He said in 2001 his best timing was 11.01and it improved gradually to 10.94, 10.78,10.65,10.59 and then 10.56 seconds. He said that many athletes who look to try and gain quick results are more likely to fail, since improvements in athletics is always a gradual process and needs patience. Umanga said, "the key factor is for the athlete to believe in himself and keep trying, and not to get disheartened by minor setbacks, it is when athletes loose this patience that they look to consume performance enhancing drugs which would eventually lead to their downfall"

Umanga also explains the need for any young athlete who wants to increase speed be it in athletics, football, tennis, rugby or any other sport that three factors are of utmost importance, they are: power, strength and technique. He says that all these three functions must be included in ones training to increase speed.

Umanga says that his rise to the top required a lot of hard work and sacrifice. He says at certain times that he trains up to 36 hour for a week and that he has to follow a strict diet to ensure that he can achieve peak performance.

Umanga is extremely grateful to his parents for all the encouragement he has received, and has a special mention for his coach Ananda Athukorale," If it was not for the coaching and encouragement I received from Ananda sir, I would not have been able to come this far" he says, He also mentions that Rohan Pradeep Kumara has been very encouraging toward him and is always ready to share his knowledge with him.Umangas heroes are former 100 meter champion Kim Collins and former Sri Lanka sprinter Sriyantha Dissanayake. His future ambition is to win the gold medal in the SAF games, Asian Games and to be able to run in an Olympic final.

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