Rising from the Ashes
Aruna Darshana has brought honour to Sri Lanka, despite the status of his house in Seruwila
It was just a week ago that sprinter Aruna Darshana bettered his own personal best timing, not once but twice, at the 10th Kinami Michitaka Memorial Athletic Meet held in Osaka, Japan. Initially, on May 4, Darshana clocked 45.59 seconds in the Men’s 400m event, but two days later, last Saturday, he further bettered the timing clocking 45.49 seconds, in the ‘C’ Grade international meet, which benefits the athletes in improving their rankings.
The 24-year-old’s previous best in Men’s 400m was 45.78 seconds, but what defies the athlete, who already earned the term of ‘the next best sprinter of Sri Lanka’ while he was still a teenager, are far different from of those on the track.
He rose to stardom in 2018, winning three gold medals at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship held in Colombo, where Darshana won the 200m, 400m and the 4x400m relay events. Initially schooling at Dehiwatte Maha Vidyalaya in Kanthale, near his home, Darshana moved to Weerakeppetipola National School in Akuramboda, after his early achievements at local events were spotted by Asanka Rajakaruna, an athletic coach.
Since then Rajakaruna has been Darshana’s father figure, helping the tall and soft spoken athlete who was brought up by his mother, who single-handedly looked after his four other siblings and supported the sprinter all the way through. His father, a paddy farmer, passed away when he just past his teenage.
Despite winning two South Asian Games gold medals, two Asian Junior gold medals and three South Asian gold medals, and bettering his personal best timing for nearly five times at international events, Darshana still lives in a half complete shelter.
That, too with the help of his coach Rajakaruna, who initiated in collecting funds and reserving cash out of his personal income to build a house for the potential international medal winner he saw in Darshana. What coach Rajakaruna intended was to create Darshana’s mother, a single mother of five fatherless boys, a comfortable environment and support the youngster’s athletic future. Rajakaruna saw the next W.P. Wimaladasa, Sugath Tillekeratne, Rohan Pradeep, Prasanna Amarasekara and Kalinga Kumarage in Darshana.
Darshana was the fifth fastest sprinter in the Men’s 400m in Asia for Sri Lanka before, but after the Osaka event last week, he is inching forward towards reaching the helm. But the untold story of Darshana’s double feat last week has not come to light of many in Sri Lanka.
Darshana has collected funds over the months and years with different intentions, primarily to complete the house that he is residing in at Seruwila near Trincomalee. When he had the option of doing what his mother deserves, a better living, Darshana had utilised the funds to travel to Japan in order to gain international exposure and serve his motherland.
At a time when the higher authorities should be setting their goals clearer, with the Asian Games around the corner, Darshana’s decision to run at an event, even if it’s ‘C’ grade, to earn direct qualification, is commendable.
While Darshana was achieving his double feat in Osaka alongside Gayanthika Abeyratne and Nilani Ratnayake, the junior athletes too impressed at the Asian Junior Under-18 Athletic Championship in Uzbekistan with two each of silver and bronze medals. Again, it’s an unknown fact to many that the Sri Lanka Under-18 athletes and the official staff was funded by another sports body, supposed to be the richest in Sri Lanka.
The custodians of sports affairs are embroiled with mainly three sports that have lucrative grants and income and this shortsighted move have blindfolded them of other sports bodies, who are struggling to strive. Athletics is one of them, and it’s no secret that it’s the track and field athletes of yesteryears who have help put Sri Lanka on the world map, other than cricket, billiards and few other sports.
In that midst, what Darshana, Abeyratne and Ratnayake made, spending their hard earned funds and other donations from well-wishers, should be an eye opener to those in the higher echelons of sports administration in the country.
It’s a rarity that Sri Lanka gets a top custodian to sports with a workable plan with vision and mission. Sri Lanka had a few in the past, and the rest of the achievements gained by sportspersons to earn honour for the country, are similar to the commitment of Darshana – country before self.