Sri Lanka athletics was running on reminisces of glory for too long. Of course there had been medals from many talented athletes at Asian level, but at international level none of them could match the world’s top performers.
Winning Gold after Gold and breaking Asian records was something the likes of Sugath Thilakarathne, Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha and Sriyani Kulawansha used to do years ago. Since then Sri Lanka has been looking for the next generation Sugath, Susanthika, Darsha and Sriyani without success. Even the junior athletes who showed glimpses of repeating that success faded away due to many reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4xb1MvnZoE&t=1s
Poster boy
Then came the all new poster boy of Sri Lankan athletics: quarter miler Aruna Darshana. He created a wave across the island with his mesmerizing run at the Asian Junior Championship in Japan, where he beat them all in emphatic fashion to win the Gold, shattering a 19-year-old record in the process.
Social Media was abuzz and the whole country was eagerly waiting to know more details about the young champion, who took them back to the early days of Sri Lankan 400m Champion Sugath Thilakarathne.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A57P2zD3ns&t=2s
It was in 1998 (20 years ago), that Thilakarathne won the Gold medal in the 400m at the Asian Games and Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, and the islanders saw a glimpse of that past glory – and may be even more – from the youngster in Japan.
His Asian Gold medal winning time of 45.79 seconds is the best by a Sri Lankan since 2006, which has also elevated him to Asian junior number one and World junior number 8. In fact, the youngster from Seruwawila has performed far better than Thilakarathne at junior level.
Like most of the Nation’s top athletes Aruna hails from the rural area of Seruwawila, some 230kms away from the capital, and did not have a rosy path to success, though he has now become the country’s top 400m runner, Asian junior number one and World junior number 8 quarter miler.
Despite his built, Aruna is a shy little boy in-front of the media. He withdrew from giving the athletes oath at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship last May citing its mental torture for him. That’s how much shy he is about public speaking.
For Aruna running was easy, but talking about it and about himself was the hardest.
“I ran for the Gold medal, but I could have done better and I will do better,” said Aruna, who was sufficiently relaxed after his return and spoke to Ceylon Athletics about his life.
Early life
19-year-old Aruna (and his twin) are the fourth born children to parents S.P. Premalal and A.A. Violet. His father is a farmer, while his mother is a housewife. The parents had a hard time bringing up the children (three elder brothers and twins).
He grew up in a small village called Dehiwatta in Seruwawila and schooled at Dehiwatta MV. He took part in school level competitions but without major success as his parents were unable to support his sporting career. However, his sporting abilities and potential for greater success showed at a young age.
School teacher Keshali Rathnasiri had seen early signs of Aruna’s potential during Division meets in Serunuwara. She had been transferred from the same Division as Dehiwatta MV to sports school Weerakkeppetipola NS, Akuramboda, and had told the authorities about him.
“She wasn’t a PTI but she had seen him run there and told us about him. We looked at him and knew he was good so we took him to our school, gave him hostel facilities and trained him,” said Aruna’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna.
Moving to Akuramboda
Aruna was enrolled to Weerakkeppetipola NS, Akuramboda in 2012 when he was in grade 8, and nearly one and half years later his twin brother Pasindu Bawantha also joined him .Since then Aruna made a steady journey to the top. Other than a small grant from the government of Rs 2,500 per month (which has very recently been increased to Rs 5,000), his father had to meet all his expenses until now, which wasn’t an easy task. “He improved slowly. First he showed good signs in the 400m hurdle, but then his 400m speed improved, so we gave up hurdling and focused on sprinting,” said Coach Asanka.
Aruna started winning 400m races at regular meets and last year he finished on a high, clocking 47.19 seconds to become the best athlete and best sprinter. His twin brother Pasindu Bawantha too was going shoulder to shoulder by becoming the best thrower, which also motivated him to do well.
Even at that time Aruna had performed better than the Gold medalists of the past four Asian Junior championship editions, which sparked hopes for Asian Junior gold. Athletics Association tried to send Aruna and Asian Junior Silver medalist Pasindu Kodikara to Jamaica for training, but their transit visa to the US was rejected which prevented them from going, which in hindsight Coach Asanka reckons was probably for the best.
Golden year
The story from there onwards is pretty much straightforward. Aruna broke many barriers, the first being the 47 second barrier when he won the Junior Nationals, followed by South Asian Junior Championship. In South Asian Juniors Aruna finished with triple Gold medals in the 200m, 400m and 4x400m.
Then came the Asian Juniors in Japan, Aruna had little time to prepare himself for the big battle ahead because there was no time to do a training session as the team had arrived just a day before the event
“There was no rest, and the time difference also affected us. Even at midnight we found it difficult to sleep. But I had the determination; I had a responsibility and I think I fulfilled it,” said Aruna.
Breaking barriers
He broke the 46 seconds barrier at the Asian Juniors clocking an astonishing 45.79 seconds.
Thilakarathne, Rohan Pradeep and Prasanna Amarasekara were the only ones to do so before him. But Aruna is just 19 and improving. Sri Lanka team management was advised to withdraw Aruna from the 200m as a precaution to manage his workload of running three events (including heats and finals) within four days. And he ended up winning the 400m and 4x400m Gold, and had he run the 200m he may have won triple Gold. Aruna was not disappointed about missing the 200m after his amazing 400m time.
Aruna will have little time to rest as early next month he will be off to Finland for the IAAF World Junior Championship. Aruna has a big chance of finishing at the podium there, a position which no Sri Lankan has ever reached. And he will be the key member of the 4x400m relay team, which is also within podium range.
Aruna now has several well wishers buzzing in social media, businessmen ready to lend helping hands and volunteers who helped him in Japan.
But Aruna is no regular junior athlete. He is Sri Lanka’s brightest hope for another Olympic medal and what he needs now is professional sponsorship where he can be focused only on athletics without worrying about his expenses as he is spending his last days of his school career. It is high time for government authorities to come up with a sustainable system to look after him in future without changing policies with the change of government, which could leave National athletes’ futures in the balance.