A sportsman to the core

President Mahinda Rajapaksa tries his foot at soccer along with Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage and others during the fun and games time at the workshop for ministers and UPFA MPs at the Diyatalawa Military Academy last year.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been a great promoter of sports and contributed significantly towards Sri Lanka's sports success. His influence and guidance made an immense contribution to promote sports at various levels.

Thus, Sri Lanka has become a great sporting nation in the Asian region while making vast strides at world level as well. The sports-loving President has always made it a point to personally witness some of the key sports events to inspire our sportsmen and women.

As President of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) in 1997, the President played a prominent role to have star woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe exonerated of doping charges on medical evidence.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the members of the Sri Lankan cricket team

He has been a keen cricket fan and it is due to his untiring efforts that the 2010 World Cup cricket was brought to the greens of Hambantota with a new international stadium. Apart from the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Sooriyawewa, another brand new cricket stadium was built at Pallekele to serve the cricket fans in the Central Province. Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo was re-developed with modern facilities.

While rehabilitating the Sugathadasa Outdooor Stadium, the Presidents keenness to promote athletics helped to construct the country's second international athletic track at the newly constructed Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Duyagama, Homagama.

When star batsman Sanath Jayasuriya's international career was in danger due to poor selection committee decisions in 2005, it was President Rajapaksa who intervened and meted out for the former Sri Lanka captain who has now taken to politics after his retirement as a Member of Parliament for Matara district.

It was when President Rajapaksa was heading the local athletic governing body in 1997 that Jayasinghe won Sri Lanka's first IAAF World Championship medal in Athens. Ten years later when President Rajapaksa became the Head of State, Jayasinghe won her second medal - a bronze at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan in 2007.

Prasanna Peiris rewrote Sri Lanka's body-building history with the country's first ever medal at the World Championship. He bagged a silver medal in the 65kg weight category at the 63rd World Body-building Championships.

The President greets former Captain of Sri Lanka's Cricket team Kumar Sangakkara Pix by Sudath Silva

Sri Lanka athletics achieved another rare feat when high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekera bagged a gold medal at the Asian Championships in China in 2009.

President Rajapaksa has been a keen rugby fan too. His eldest son Namal, now a Member of Parliament for Hambantota district, led the Sri Lanka national rugby team which registered a historic win over Poland earlier this month.

It was for the first time that Sri Lanka had beaten an European country in a rugby union Test. Presidents second son Yoshitha Rajapaksa has been the regular captain of the Sri Lanka rugby team which has shown great promise in Asian arena. It was due to the blessings of the President that the Old Race Course grounds in Colombo has been developed into an international class rugby venue.

Sri Lanka cricket team has been going from strength to strength, winning the Asia Cup and several other tournaments and cricket series during the past eight years. Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup beating India in Karachi. Sri Lanka emerged runners up in 2011 ICC World Cup in India and also finished second to the West Indies in the 2012 ICC World Cup worked off in Sri Lanka.

In boxing, Nilmini Jayasinghe won a gold medal at the World championships in Petersburg, Russia. Her team-mate Anusha Kodituwakku bagged a bronze medal at the Women's Indoor Games held in Hanoi, Vietnam. Sri Lanka also won two silver medals and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games weightlifting championships staged in Malaysia.

Sri Lanka has achieved many more milestones in the international arena in several other sports. Thanks to the efforts of the sports-loving President, modern stadia and sports venues have been constructed at district and provincial levels.

Those are investment for the future. Such efforts would enable Sri Lanka sportsmen and women to perform even better in the years to come.