Ransilu - six national records at weightlifting finals
 

by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr.

Sri Lanka's weightlifting prodigy nineteen year-old Ransilu Jayatilleke from Kandy YMCA smashed six national records in the junior and senior categories and became the highest 'lifter' in the history of weight lifting in Sri Lanka when he hoisted a total of 292 killogrammes at the National Weightlifting trials conducted by the Sri Lanka Weight Lifting Federation for the SAF Games and Commonwealth Championship 2006 held at the Ministry of Sports Weight Lifting Centre in Colombo.

Strongly built teenager Ransilu Jayatillake, a product of Kingswood College, new being trained by Athula Wijewickrema at the Kandy YMCA and also his father the famous triple international D. U. M. Jayatillake, competed in the 105 Kg body weight category and first snatched another 126 Killogrammes which lowered his own record of 125 Killogrammes established last year. This bettered the senior and junior national records for this lift. This brought him two records.

Ransilu Jayatillake next clean and jerked 166 Killogrammes which erased his own record of 165 Killogrammes.

This being new junior and senior marks brought him another two records.

The total of both these lifts was 292 Killogrammes and this lowered the highest ever total of 290 killogrammes and being still a junior and competing in the senior category brought him a further two records making a total of six records.

The lift of snatch 126 Kgs. and clean and jerk 166 Kgs. and the aggregate of 292 are all highest in the history of weighlifting in Sri Lanka which has a history of over 50 years.

This is not all Ransilu Jayatillake according to his father D. U. M. Jayatillake, a former national weight lifter and Secretary of the Sri Lanka Weight Lifting Federation, Ransilu Jayatillake is the holder of eight national weight lifting records which is great by any standards considering his age and the fact that he has to divide his time between studies and sports.