Fitness America brought Dinuka’s dream to reality
View(s):Dinuka Perera, who hails from Kandy and now settled down in the United States of America takes pride in bringing the rare honour of 
representing Sri Lanka at the Fitness America Competition. Fitness America is considered the world’s top ranked fitness and physique competition and it is held every year in Las Vegas with over 400 competitors in contention from over 80 countries.
Dinuka, an old boy from Trinity College Kandy tried out his luck in the competition a fortnight ago says comprehensive planning, determination and willingness can take an individual miles in life. “As a kid my only dream was to go to America and to build some muscle like Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is a very typical dream for an American kid, but for a middle class kid from Kandy mostly raised by his grandparents, this was a heck of a dream, though I kept holding on to it and did all the daily dues everyday till my vision became a reality,” Dinuka said.
At 14, Dinuka got into lifting weights with one of his uncles guiding him with the basics. With age he kept on learning and made himself well versed on all aspects of the human body, health and fitness. As time passed by this became a way of life for Dinuka and gradually he transformed his body into a crafty masterpiece which eventually prompted his way in to the Fitness America 2013 competition.
“I wanted to do something extraordinary, and leave a mark somewhere no Sri Lankan has been before, so I looked up what is the number one fitness competition in the world, fortunately there wasn’t many and there was only one, then I told myself OK, I’m going to do this somehow. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I made up my mind and started working towards it.”
However Dinuka had very little help from others apart from his wife, who was a keen motivator. This was a great booster and the best of energisers for Dinuka. He worked extra hard, planning out his daily training, diet and on stage preparations. However from a humble beginning to the elite stage of the world’s top fitness competition, Dinuka’s dedication in reaching the stage speaks volumes than how he fared in it. He competed amongst the best of the best in the world and that Dinuka considers as a great accomplishment.