Darsha renews pledge to serve athletics as an elected official
Darsha (R) with her long-time team-mate Sriyani Kulawansa
Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) will be celebrating its centenary next year. It will be a momentous occasion for a country which has won more medals in athletics than giant neighbours India. Sri Lanka’s only two Olympic medals have come from athletics. More significantly an iconic star who heralded Sri Lanka’s dominance on the track in Asia has come on board SLA after being elected as one of seven vice presidents of the athletics body for the next four years.
It was only by a whisker though, garnering just enough votes to win the seventh slot from among 14 contestants. All this despite being a three-time Olympian who belonged to a golden generation of athletes and became the darling of Sri Lankan fans with her dashing exploits in the 200 and 400-metre sprint events.
K.V. Damayanthi Darsha carved a niche as one of Sri Lanka’s greatest athletes with record-breaking performances since bursting into the international limelight by winning the 100m gold at the Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta in 1994 following her title winning performance at the Colombo SAF Games with a new record. The same year she won the bronze in the 200 metres behind Chinese Taipei’s Wang Huei-Chen and team-mate Susanthika Jayasinghe in the Asian Games in Hiroshima. A triple gold winner at the Asian Games, the lass from Panadura who was groomed at Ladies College, Colombo, has decided to take the plunge in an area where many top stars fear to tread.
There are many sports stars who want to give back to the sport by offering their services as key decision makers but find out to their dismay that fighting the system is an uphill task. Darsha is acutely aware that all good athletes are not necessarily good in administration. She has no grandiose plans to resurrect the standard of athletics in the country. Her objectives are simple. To do the best for athletics just as she performed with distinction as an athlete for nearly two decades.
SLA could count itself fortunate that an athlete of Darsha’s stature has joined the team. She aims to replicate the success she enjoyed as a super star in equal measure with Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe who paired to give the Chinese a run for their money. She is not driven by hunger for power or positions being the Secretary of Sri Lanka Olympians organisation and tipped to be its next president. Did she put her hard-earned image as an international athlete by coming forward to serve athletics? Since her retirement from athletics in 2007, she has turned her attention to focusing on her career being Assistant Manager at MAS Holdings.
“For 16 years as an athlete, I did my best for the country. I feel with my experience and all, I have a chance to serve athletics in this country. That is why I thought of contesting for the first time. I feel that I must do my responsibility. I am looking forward to giving my service to athletics,” said Darsha in an interview with the Sunday Times.
“I know being an athlete or sportswoman and administrator are two different things. Some people have success in both. First thing is you have to learn to be an administrator. I feel that’s the reason most sports personalities have not come up in administration. It’s a responsibility. I have achieved success as an athlete. I will try my best to be a good administrator,” she said.
“I am not concentrating on getting positions in any association. My main objective is to serve to my best and give my service to the sport. It doesn’t matter what my position is. I am not running behind positions. Wherever I can do, whatever I can do, I will do it for the good health of the athletics,” she reiterated.
“Being athletes, we do a lot of things specially for former Olympians and to promote Olympism to our young generation and to motivate them. The affiliated members from districts and clubs who have faith in me can rest assured they can rely on me,” she added.
Although she is a Level 1 World Athletics qualification as a coach, she does not focus on coaching as such despite opening her own academy.
“I started it in 2018 to give the opportunity and provide the right skills to develop athletes. You have to learn proper skills to be a perfect athlete from a young age. That’s my objective,” she said.
Securing one of her many gold medals at the SAF Games held in Colombo
Asked about the standard of athletics in the country compared to her era, she lamented the fact that Sri Lanka hasn’t won Asian Games medals.
“I can’t say we have improved. There is a gap. I think you need to address that actually,” she said.
Darsha was of the opinion that it was not due to a dearth in talent.
“It’s not a lack of talent or coaching. Not definitely lack of talent. When you consider coaching, I feel that we have to develop good coaches. We have to groom our coaches. There are so many reasons that we couldn’t win an Olympic medal or Asian Games. If we can address those reasons, definitely we will be able to get a medal in Asian Games and Olympics,” she said.
Darsha’s crowning glory came in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok where she won the 200-400 double. It was after a 24-year hiatus that Sri Lanka won an Asian Games gold in athletics.
Darsha still holds the records in 200m (22.48s) and 400m (51.13s) in the Asian Games, Asian Championships (22.84s and 51.05s) and the SAF Games (22.68s and 52.11s) apart from the Sri Lankan record of 51.05s for the 400 metres.
She rues not winning an Olympic medal, though it was hampered by injury.
“Yes. I did have a chance in 2000. It’s actually not a regret. I missed that chance. You have to be 100 percent perfect to win,” she said.
Darsha had one more gold in the Asian Games that came in Busan in 2002 where she lived up to her rating as the best quarter-miler in the continent with a 51.13 win over India’s K. M. Beenamol. She spoke animatedly about missing out on a Commonwealth Games medal in 1998 (Kuala Lumpur).
“I got 4th place in the 400m final. It was a very close competition. That’s one of the medals I missed,” she said.
An injury kept her out of the 2006 Doha Asian Games while her last international outing was at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where she made the semifinals of the 200 metres.
Asked whether Olympians should have more representation and say in the National Olympic Committee (NOC), she replied in the affirmative.
“Not only in NOC. There are so many Olympians who represented Sri Lanka in 10 sports. It’s good to have those people who represented in the Olympics in sports bodies to develop sports in Sri Lanka,” she said.
Queried whether Sri Lanka can produce another Darsha, Susanthika Jayasinghe or Sriyani Kulawansa in the near future, she said: “I believe there are so many Darshas, Susanthikas or Kulawansas in our country. We have enough talent. What you need is to have a proper system to take care of those young athletes and develop them to be an international athlete.”