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Star athlete’s father released, unable to return home due to defective fishing boat
Right now, Parami is preparing to represent Sri Lanka at the 3000m event at a future Olympic meet.
The father of young Sri Lankan athlete Parami Wasanthi Maristela and other fishermen, who were arrested by coast guards in India’s Andaman Islands for illegally straying into their waters, were officially released one month ago.
However, they are unable to return to Sri Lanka as their fishing boat is disabled. Right now, they are awaiting help from the Sri Lankan authorities, to get back home. But the authorities have allegedly not taken any steps to do so.
Parami, whose ambition is to represent Sri Lanka at a future Olympic meet, is once again appealing to the authorities to bring her father and the other fishermen, back home from the Andaman islands.
Along with her mother and older sister, she humbly appeals to the authorities to make arrangements to tow the defective boat so that her father and others can make it back home.
“My father and the other fishermen are helpless in the Andaman islands,” Parami told the Sunday Times.
Right now, Parami is preparing to represent Sri Lanka at the 3000m event at a future Olympic meet. Despite their hardships, for many years her father had encouraged her to pursue athletics, she said.
“When I saw the long line of vehicles preceding her after she received the bronze medal at the Youth Olympics, I thought many people would help her. Some people made certain promises. They have not met these promises yet. She has not received even a packet of milk for her nutrition. Someone even promised a new house for her, but right now we only have the key to this house,” said Parami’s mother, Rita Margaret Silva.
“On January 4 this year, when Parami’s father went fishing, the engine of their boat stalled and they drifted into foreign waters. It has been seven months since then, and no one has helped us yet. We informed people who could help us, but no one cared. Parami is preparing for the A/L exams this year and she cannot bear that her father is not with us. Those who promised to help us should help to bring her father home,” Ms. Silva said, wiping tears away.
“I do not want anything else. I only want help to bring my father back to Sri Lanka,” Parami added, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
“We are desperate and helpless without our father. No one asks if we have eaten anything. We are worried and sad about his situation, but we are determined to continue with our studies and sports activities,” said Parami’s sister Nishanthi Dilhani Fernando who is studying sports management at the Sabaragamuwa University.
Amidst this situation, Parami is still hopeful of one day bringing home an Olympic medal.