Please enable me to work…
“I am not willing to hold on to the Athletics President’s post for a long period. The maximum is four years,” this is the frank view of Sugath Tillekeratne, President of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka. “That too if the others would like me to be in this post,” he emphasized.
“During this period, I hope to bring up the standard of athletics, which is now on a downward trend. The ‘Golden Era’ in athletics was when Susanthika Jayasinghe, myself, Damayanthi Darsha, Sriyani Kulawansa and Rohan Pradeep shone bright in athletics.
We were able to win medals at the South Asian Games, Asian Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Athletic Championships and the Olympics. To dream of such an era is an illusion.
“If one hopes for such an era again, the coaches, athletes and the administration should work hand in glove. Then such an event is possible. “During the next four years, I am hoping to work out a possible plan in order to win medals. I hope to work wholeheartedly for athletics. Then I want to retire. I do not intend to cling on to this position for ever.
“I came to this position from the village. It was a tough haul. I have won medals at all possible meets, except the Olympics. Because of the cries from various people, I undertook to be the President of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka. The veterans in the field instead of helping me started pulling my leg. Even the IAAF at the start posed a lot of questions. But I had talks with them as an Asian medalist they gave me a lot of support. Now the IAAF is giving me a lot of support in this long haul with a future plan.
Sugath Tillekeratne is a 400m runner. In 1996 and 2000 he represented the Olympics. In 1998 at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games he won the Bronze medal. He is still a record holder in the event having set it up at the Asian Championships in 1998 Fukoka, Japan.
At the Asian Games 400m he is a Gold medalist and 200m Bronze medalist. Currently he is employed as an assistant executive at the Sri Lanka Petroleum Corporation. Speaking about the approaching Rio Olympics, Sugath said that three athletes have qualified for the event. They are: Anuradha Indrajit Cooray (marathon), Geethani Rajasekera (marathon) and Sumeda Ranasinghe (javelin). “This is a good sign. I hope more athletes will qualify for the Olympics at the South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in February in Assam, India.
“The reason is that the athletes are getting an opportunity to display their talent after six years. I am expecting Sri Lanka to win over 10 Gold Medals. With this in view Sri Lanka has put forward a team of 69 athletes (men and women). Altogether there are 41 men and 28 women in the team.”
When questioned in what events Sri Lanka hopes to win Gold. He said: “In the men’s high jump, marathon, 100 m, 4X100, Javelin and Pole Vault. In the women’s events – 100m,800m, 4X400m, javelin, long jump and the triple jump. The last edition of the SAG took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Sri Lanka bagged eight Gold, 8 Silver and 6 Bronze in athletics. In the history of the SAG Sri Lanka won the athletics event held in Colombo with 15 Gold. Other than that Sri Lanka has been unable to win the event.
This time the Sri Lanka skipper of the SAG will be Manjula Kumara Wijesekera (high jump). He is the senior athlete. He represented Sri Lanka at 2004 Athens Olympics and Sri Lanka’s record holder. His best performance is 2.27m. In 2005 at the Incheon Korea and 2009 Guangzhou at the Asian Athletic Championships he won Gold. In 2004 at the Islamabad and 2006 SAG he is a Gold medalist.