Olympic Scholarship for Shemal Fernando

Sri Lanka’s well known sports administrator, Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando has been successful in securing an Olympic Scholarship from the International Olympic Committee Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Fernando is amongst the 30 selected from Sports Administrators of the 26 Olympic Sports Disciplines from 204 countries across the world to read the unique sports scholarship leading to a Masters Degree in Sports Administration.

He holds a Masters Degree in Management conferred by the Kotelawala Defence University of Sri Lanka in 2003. Rear Admiral Fernando is currently reading for a Doctorate.

He is a Class 45 Graduate of the world’s prestigious Naval War College in Newport in the United States of America where he had the rare honour of becoming the first Sri Lankan to be elected as the ‘Student President’ in 1994. He has followed a Diploma on Conflict Resolution conducted by the UN Mandated University of Peace in Costa Rica in 2006 and holds Diplomas on Diplomacy and International Relations and Computer Science.

His forte was athletics and won College Colours as well as Sri Lanka Schools Colours for 400 metres. He has rendered yeoman services towards promotion of ‘track and field’ at National Level for almost three decades.

Currently, he serves as the Secretary General of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka. As the Secretary General of the Defence Services Sports Board, he spearheaded the Defence Services Games 2010, the first edition since liberation of the country from the clutches of terrorism.

As Chairman Athletics of the Sri Lanka Navy, he produced the first Olympian from the Sri Lanka Navy at Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney and in his capacity as Chairman, Defence Services Athletics, he was instrumental in no small way towards winning the first ever World Military Games Medal for Sri Lanka in 2003.

He managed the National Teams to Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom in 2012, Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 2004, Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom in 2002, World Military Games in Catania, Italy in 2003 and Asian Games in Doha Qatar in 2006.

He also served as Chef-de-Mission of Sri Lanka Contingents to Youth Commonwealth Games in Isle of Man in 2011, World Youth Championships in Sherbrook in 2002 and 50th World Military Cross Country in Bordeaux, France in 2002.