The untold and unheard story of Rukshan Athapaththu
Sri Lanka Men’s pool
On Monday last week, in the presence of the Sunday Times, the Commonwealth Games (CWG) basketball team’s both the genders practises were struck by a spoilsport when their sessions about to start were severely hampered by lights going off.
They eventually though, practiced a bit of drills in pitch darkness and went by the guessing game and mind calculation. Adding to that and due to the record levels of cost of living, their nutritional materials are also increasingly becoming unaffordable. Some of them costing Rs. 12, 500 have jumped by double.
Despite these mercilessly mauling, both the teams are practicing day and night ahead of the CWG, Birmingham, England, starting July 28. Amidst all of these, a story of sacrifice lies in the career of cager Rukshan Athapaththu – the men’s basketball captain for the Birmingham affair.
This scripts the basketball version of sacrifice after the teenage sensation Dunith Wellalage created the cricketing version.
Royalist Athapaththu in his story of sacrifice also forwent when he was appointed as the captain of his alma mater during A/L days. But the modest looking, soft spoken lad made it a point that the sacrifice compensated and paid off. He came out scoring flying colours of three As, and that propelled him of gaining admission at the University of Moratuwa, where now he is in his third year.
Rukshan Athapaththu
“In my life, if I can’t do it properly, I won’t do it. That time (during his A/L’s) I wanted to get three As and get a good rank in the All-Island Rankings. That’s why I stepped down as captain, and settled for a deputy,” he reflected on the sacrifice at the basketball courts by the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation.
“If I don’t go properly as a captain for the practices, some can raise questions and criticism. I don’t like to be that. I want to be an example, if I get it,”
In spite of foregoing spearheading a top school in the island, he not only covered through academics, but also won the Most Valuable Player in the tournament.
“Hence, I don’t think I got any bad feelings for the decision,” Athapaththu, now 23, said that it was not a rueful call.
The national player will be leading his 3×3 basketball side, into a historical edition. This would be the very first time in the history of CWG, 3×3, another format of basketball, will be introduced into the 10-day tournament.
Previewing the CWG starting soon, he said they intend to do something at the multinational meet adding that it is a feel-good-factor in his debut as a captain.
“I’m confident with the team and the coaches,” the engineering undergraduate said.
“Me and Brent (Thevakumar, also the brother of the national team’s captain) are also playing for the national team. So it’s a really good experienced team we have this time,” Athapaththu assessed his team composition.
“In my Under-18 team, we played really well. Because, in my 2017 team, we beat Japan and Kazakhstan and we got qualified to the quarter-final. We beating Japan was for the first time,” Athapaththu recounted.
“As a good sportsman, we can balance those things, and that is my point. We can sacrifice our sleep and manage our time. So I recommend we balance those things,” he said in his recommendation to fellow athletes.
But the entire unit, including the girls’ team, also have been proactive in advancing their sessions, to make the most ahead of their departure. On Thursday too practice sessions were in full swing.
The teams, yet to be approved by the Sports Ministry, are funded by the National Olympic Committee and will be leaving on July 26, batch by batch.
Men’s pool: Simron Yoganathan, Rukshan Athapattu, Shehan Fernando, Arnold Brent, Janith Gamage, Abdul Kaldeen, Chenura De Alwis and Aaron Fonseka