South Asian Games 2006: a reflection

by Carlton Samarajiwa

Among the striking features of the South Asian Games 2006 concluded on April 28 at the Sugathadasa Stadium was the spectacular and heart-warming achievements of our village athletes. They symbolised another aspect of the resurgent rural Sri Lanka of our times as the medals -gold and silver and bronze- spread from village to village, "gamin gamata", as the current political slogan promises. What they got...they gave

Sports Ministry Secretary Siri Wirithamulla's wish that our athletes would pay back what they had got from the "Sopy Akkas and Martin Aiyas" in the island was amply fulfilled. Wirithamulla was addressing the 73-member Sri Lankan contingent on the eve of the Games, at the Department of Sports Development. On the same occasion, President of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka, Derwin Perera modestly said he expected fifteen golds but our athletes bagged more than double that number -as many as 37.

Overall, it was the sparkling performances of our sports stars from the village that stood out during the Games like the SAG flame that shone "eternally". They ran and jumped jubilantly from event to event, attacked and defended valiantly from game to game, wrestled and threw and boxed and knocked out from bout to bout, and pedalled indefatigably from one gruelling mile to another.

They proved beyond any doubt whatever that they have risen above their lot as "drawers of water and hewers of wood" and have come into their own as the equals, if not superiors, of their more fortunate and privileged counterparts from our own and other cities in the region.

The brilliance of our rural athletes was truly a celebration of our village ethos, a rural reawakening, a gama neguma without political patronage. Barring a few stars from the leading metropolitan schools and swimming sensations Mayumi

Raheem and Andrew Abeysinghe domiciled in Singapore and USA respectively, the majority of our SAG contingent received their formal education in disadvantaged outstation schools.

One recalls the 1950s when the late Dr H. S. R. Goonewardena, Deputy Director of Education (Physical Education), a hurdles record holder in his time, and Directors of Education the late Duncan White, our first Olyimpic medalist, and the late Leslie Handunge, our Commonwealth Games medalist.

These educationists with their team of Physical Training Instructors (PTIs) and Inspectors of Physical Education (IPEs) pioneered the spread of sports as a discipline in the Central Schools and discovered rural sports talent.

That was the beginning of a national sports revolution that accompanied the advent of the late C. W.W. Kannangara's Free Education Scheme. The emergence of stars from the distant backwoods, which has continued over the years since then, reached its high-water mark at the Sugathadasa Stadium last week.

Chinthaka Vidanage, Commonwealth Games gold medalist weight-lifter, won SAG gold as well with ease. He comes from a marginalised village in Polonnaruwa. Susanthika Jayasinghe, Olympic bronze medalist, won SAG gold medals in her events. Although now a Colombo lady at large, she hails from a recess in Kegalle district.

Sixteen-year-old Dulanjalee Ranasinghe grew up below the poverty line in a village in Puttalam district until her coach Dileema Pieterson brought her to Colombo. She won the women's high jump gold medal with a leap of 1.71 metres. It was Sri Lanka's first gold medal in this event after 15 years.

Padma Nandani Wijesundera, who won gold in the discus throw with a distance of 47.50 metres, is from Ratnapura while Sriyalatha Wickremasinghe, who led the women's cycling team to a gold medal, lives in Anuradhpaura and attended Swarnapali Balika Vidyalaya. C. P. Meemanage, captain of the victorious men's cycling team, is from Homagama.

Manjula Samarakoon, gold medallist in the 50m Rifle Prone event, is from Dawuldena in Welimada, and Sugath Tillekaratne, the 400 metres champion is from the distant hills in the outskirts of Kandy district.Asanka Sujeevan, who won gold in the Wushu event, is from Mahawa and attended Mahawa Vijayaba Vidyalaya.

Sanjeevani Lakmali Ranasinghe and Chaminda Asanthimala of the medal winning Karate squad are from Eheliyagoda and Polgasowita respectively.

Rural stock

These are only a few examples of the rural composition of our 73-member Sri Lankan representation at SAG, but its overwhelming majority is evidently of rural stock. Their behaviour, their mien, their names and their unsophisticated ways were evidence of their rural roots. (Of course, a few of the more experienced among our athletes seem to have lost that rural touch, which is another matter altogether.)

Also noteworthy about this celebration of rural athletic prowess was the brilliance of our rural girls. They displayed their strengths and asserted their power on track and field and court. They outperformed the boys in the task of baton changing in the relay and their volley ball spoke volumes for their stamina, skill and spirit.

They revised the myths that have defined them from the perspective of the dominant male. We saw (thanks to an excellent Rupavahini and Eye TV coverage of the events) the exhilaration with which our girls, from everybody's darling teenager Mayumi to veteran 31-year-old Susanthika, claimed and redefined themselves as they looked for freedom and space to discover their physical strength.

They seemed to say with the poet Alta, "I'm a woman and I'm proud."