From tackling legs to selling eggs
Nishantha Atapattu
Chandana Nishantha Atapattu, a multi-talented athlete who hails from Panduwasnuwara, a town situated 102 kilometres from Sri Lanka’s capital, does not owe to anyone in anyway, not even to his country. At 44, Nishantha, a veteran in masters’ athletics and a versatile kabaddi player and coach, may have lost almost everything, but not his pride and integrity.
After quitting his job of 20 years as a Warehouse Inspector in pursuit of a profession he longed for as a Regional Sports Development Officer in the North Western Province, Nishantha ended up with nothing, like humpty dumpty, who sat on a wall and then had a great fall.
Nishantha had all the theoretical and practical requirements to fill in the still-vacant position, but to his dismay, failing English at the G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination way back in 1992, stood as the only reason for being rejected.
But the self-motivated honest man, the current top seed in Decathlon at the Asian Masters Athletic Series, finally decided that honour, pride and integrity would not help feed the four dependents hungry stomachs and ended up as a street vendor, selling eggs and areca nuts.
Unlike the ‘humpty dumpty’ that comes in the children’s nursery rhymes, who climbs up a wall and has a great fall, cracks apart never to be put together again even by all the King’s horses and men, Nishantha did not take anything with a negative mind-frame.
“To be honest selling eggs initially, was more challenging than competing as an athlete. At the beginning I was clad in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and collected all eggs and areca nuts all by myself. This happened slightly prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. I managed to survive through the pandemic and returned to the roadside soon after restrictions were lifted. By then the people from the area gradually got to know of my background and things improved,” the determined father-of-three said.
What came as an obstacle to Nishantha who sought a government job that could help him be with the passion he had for the past three decades, was never the setback for him to claim medals at international level and even win big locally. He became the first Sri Lankan Masters decathlon athlete to qualify for the World Masters Athletic Championship held in Spain, being ranked 19th globally and first in Asia.
Is a winner in sports, but a survivor in life selling eggs and areca nuts near Panduwasnuwara
At the same event held in 2018, Nishantha managed to finish among the top 10 and 20 global rankings in the Men’s 4x400m relay, Men’s 4x100m Relay and Men’s 110m Hurdles events. He reached this level after obtaining few gold and silver medals at the Asian Masters held years earlier, competing in the Over-40 category.
As a kabaddi player, Nishantha has won at many levels – youth, zonal, district, provincial and national – before finally earning a place to represent Sri Lanka at the Indian Open Championship held in February this year. Sadly he developed a hamstring injury which took months to recover.
Currently Nishantha has completed the Level ‘D’ coaching certificate in kabaddi, and was providing his services free-of-charge to Sri Parakrama National School in Nikaweratiya, before schools were shut down during mid-March.
In addition he has other qualifications from various sectors such as leadership skills trainer, sports science and athletics through the South Asian Sports Academy in Kelaniya. With his vast experience as an athlete and in other aspects, Nishantha faced the interview for the ‘North Western Province Sports Development Officer’, which still remains unfilled.
“After I was rejected in September last year, I gradually thought of building my life as a sports trainer and coach, as my only intention is to serve sports in Sri Lanka. I was compelled to resign from my job of 20 years at MAS Holdings due to ill-treatment of my colleagues, which was heartbreaking. The top management of MAS Holdings actually helped me immensely, and helped me even travel abroad for international competitions as a Masters athlete for many years. But I did not receive the same courtesy from most of my colleagues and the lower superiors. Finally I resigned in February this year with other plans, but all fell apart,” he explained.
While serving as kabaddi head coach at Nikaweratiya School, Nishantha conducted a few weekend training camps and workshops for young athletes and their parents to attract children into sports. His initial idea was to provide the services free and then charge a nominal fee for intakes who are interested to join in for future programmes.
His noble intention is to compete and add more medals to his already huge tally both from international and local masters’ athletics events, and impart his knowledge of 32 years as an athlete, trainer and motivator to the present generation. Instead of spending his time with youngsters in the grounds sharing his experience, Nishantha has been selling eggs and areca nuts in the roadside for the past few months, now clad in a training kit.
“It’s not to insult anyone or anything. I developed allergies exposing my body to the sun, dust and polluted air. The only clothing I’m used to for the past so many years, is the training kits, which are the only ones I have in possession. And I’m comfortable with them on, so I started wearing them and face the new challenge,” he added.
However his plight was discovered by many from the field of athletics and kabaddi. Many sympathised, but some went a step ahead to expose Nishantha’s current fate. Eventually he was summoned by the Minister of Sports Namal Rajapaksa on Thursday for a meeting, after which Nishantha was able to breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now.
“The meeting was cordial and productive, and I was asked by the minister what my intentions were. I told him that I would like to serve the country back and he gave me two options. I chose to continue my passion in sport, to which he pledged support and hopefully I would be able to continue my goal. If I fail, by any chance, now I know how to survive in life,” the hopeful Nishantha said in conclusion.