Sports

Sports

Tale of tears and sweet success
By M. Shamil Amit
Where does the lotus bloom? It blooms in the mud. But, any one who sees it adores it for its sheer beauty. Then, where do you find precious gems? They are found in dark dungeons in the belly of the earth, but still people would even kill for them. At the same time where were the champion athlete sisters A.A. Nilanka Sajewani and A.A. Gayanthika born? They were born in a place about two hundred and fifty kilo metres away from the hustle and the bustle of city life, and deep in the outback of Suriyawewa in a small hamlet by the name of Deiyandara Oya. If you look at a map of Sri Lanka I am sure that you are not going to find it in a hurry or else at all.

At the recently concluded XIth National Sports Festival held at the Sugathadasa Stadium, the performance of these two sisters were the cynosure of all eyes, winning as much as five gold medals between them while establishing three meet records. This prompted the Sunday Times to visit their village and learn more about the conditions and the secret of their success.

We were told a bus plies every two hours even that not up to the distance we travelled, they will have to get down and walk a further three-kilo metres. The village is known as Dayiandara Oya.

The vehicle could not be taken to the compound and we had to walk a small distance through a footpath to get into their wattle and daub cadjan roofed house. The sight in front of us was heart rendering. Hailing from a humble farming family without a permanent income, it was evident that these two sisters have experienced what hardship means in real terms..

The parents of the two sisters Henry Attygala Abeyratne and Liyanapathiranage Alice Nona speaking to the Sunday Times said the two girls were the last of five children, one boy and four girls. The older children are married and living away from Deiyandara Oya.

Though they earn their living by chena cultivation, on which they cannot depend and at times they are forced to do labour jobs to exist. Due to their financial difficulties they are sorry that they cannot see their two kids perform. But they encourage and give all the support to them in their own loving manner.

The father then pointed at the coach who had also come to the scene having got the information that we were there. As the girls were shy and reluctant, so the coach Sujith Nilantha began to talk on their behalf. Sujith Nilantha Abeysekera who has been their mentor from the inception of their careers, is also an old boy of Suriyawewa National School and a champion athlete himself. He is married with one child but is unemployed helping his old school with his favourite hobby, mind you free of charge. In the year 1991 he became the first student from the school to be selected to participate at an all island inter-schools athletic meet.

Sujith never failed to practise every evening, which he did to keep himself fit. It was during one of these training sessions that Nilanka joined him and he inquired from Nilanka whether she wants to take to the sport seriously. That was just five years ago. Earlier she had been winning at the southern district meets, Sujith noticed that she could be made a future champion.

At the begining Nilanka concentrated in the 100 metre event but Sujith saw that she could be moulded into a top class long distance runner and it was proved right. The coach advised her to concentrate on track events over 800 metres. It became an overnight success and she went on to win all the long distance events in the southern district meets with record timings.

Her first major meet outside her district was in the year 2001 taking part in the VIII National Sports Festival held at the Sugathadasa Stadium. Taking part in the Under 17 caregory Nilanka finished a creditable third in the 800 and 1500 metres, to better the feat of her coach, to become the first athlete from Suriyawewa National School to win a medal in a national meet.

While her elder sister was attending practices and winning medals, younger sister Gayanthika was her companion from and after practice sessions, she also became interested and joined her elder sister in her training sessions. The two got together and began winning medals after medals at various meets held in the southern district.

The year 2002 was the stepping-stone for the two sisters. Nilanka who had already won two bronze medals at the National Sports Festival the previous year, had a partner in her sister who too entered to participate at IX National Sports Festival and the duo bagged two gold medals each in the 800 and 1500 metres events in the Under 19 (Nilanka) and Under 17 (Gayanthika) age group. Gayanthika established records in both her events.

In 2003 at the southern athletic meets, the sisters broke most of the records, which was to their name. And the same year they participated in the same age group at the X National Sports Festival and elder sister Nilanka defeated younger sister Gayanthika in both the 800 and 1500 metre events, but Gayanthika was not to be outdone she beat her sister to second place in the 3000 metre event.

This year the two girls won five gold medals with elder sister Nilanka winning the 800 metres with a new record and the 1500 metres while younger sister Gayanthika won three gold medals with records in the 800 and 1500 metres and the 3000 metres.

It was no surprise the school has a ground behind its premises which is not suitable for any sort of sport. Its filled with pot holes and shrubs but the children from the lower classes carry on regardless playing softball cricket with broken chairs as wickets and pol piththa as bats. And the coach explained that they practise on the tar road leading to the school and around the village.

It's under these circumstances that the two girls have come to this level and gone on to represent the junior national athletic team. Gayanthika was the first to make a trip overseas when in the year 2002 she participated at the Junior Asian Championships held in Bangkok and this year it was elder sister Nilanka who made it to the junior national team for the Junior Asian Championships held in Malaysia.

Coach Sujith has over ten young athletes training under him from various schools in Suriyawewa. He says he has another champion in the making in W.K.L.A. Nimali of Wewegama Junior School who also won a gold medal in the Under 17 category with record timing.

Speaking about the facilities and the help that the two girls have received, he says three years ago the girls were given a pair of spikes each by a Christian organization in the area but now that is not in usable condition.

There is no support coming from the school, as the girls have to travel over 15 kilometres either way so he was forced to curtail their training to just one and a half hours in the evening and that's all they could but even then they are dedicated and put in as much effort as possible.

Having made their mark in the athletic arena inspite of all the hardship, they have not neglected their studies. Nilanka has got through her A Level examination and is waiting to enter the university while Gayanthika has got through her O' Levels and preparing to do her A' Levels. So they have combined both academic and sports activities equally which is a good example for students who have all the facilities to emulate.

The two girls though being reluctant to speak about their own achievements came forward when requested to tell the world about their future plans. They were similar in their aims wanting to make to the top and what they require is support. They want a fairly good ground to do their training, spikes, deck shoes and nourishment (which any top class athletes needs) to keep fit.

Ironically, the saddest part of the story is after having won five gold medals of which three were record timings at the recently concluded 11th National Sports Festival at the Sugathadasa Stadium where over 8,000 athletes (boys and girls) participated from over 960 schools around the island, the two sisters are yet to be recognized by their own school-- Suriyawewa National School.

When the Sunday Times visited the school on Thursday, four days since the National Sports Festival was completed at the Sugathadasa Stadium, on our mission we were surprised to note that their achievements have not been recognized or even mentioned at the daily school assembly.

The only felicitation they had received were the publicity given by the various print and electronic media. As mentioned in the Sunday Times of October 3 the girls had made it to the meet borrowing Rs. 1,000/- from a friend, which was insufficient for transport charges, accommodation and meals for the four days they had to stay in Colombo.

But thanks to the high priest of the Jetawana Temple at Armour Street they solved one of their problems as they were given accommodation in the temple for the days they were going to stay and they are ever grateful to the priest for this. How is this for a real life story?

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