Ambepitiya, Lanka's best bet for future

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Germany

Nineteen years ago Sriyantha Dissanayake rewrote Sri Lanka's athletic history when he bagged a silver and a bronze medal in men's 200m and 100m events at the 11th Asian Games in Beijing. It was Sri Lanka's first Asian Games medal in 16 years after the 1974 Teheran glory and Dissanayake's feat opened a new chapter in Sri Lanka athletics.

Ever since, Dissanayake had been the undisputed champion. He not only emerged the fastest man in Sri Lanka to equal his coach and former Asian Games 4 x 400m gold medallist Sunil Gunawardene's Sri Lanka record of 10.5 seconds but was also crowned the fastest man in South Asia, winning men's 100m gold medal at the Vth South Asian Games in Colombo, 1991.

A few years later, a product from Sri Lanka Army - Chinthaka de Zousa, challenged Dissanayake's dominance and beat the South Asian Champion at the National Championship. De Zoysa's dominance was short lived as Sri Lanka once again tried to find a star athlete in men's 100m event. Though Sugath Tillakaratne emerged men's 400m champion and went on to win Asian Championship gold medal in Fukuoka in 1999 Sri Lanka had to wait until another decade to find a promising men's 100m runner.

With the retirements of Chinthaka de Zoysa, Sugath Tillakaratne, Damayanthi Darsha and Sriyani Kulawansa during the last few years, Sri Lanka's dominance in Asian sprint events has been gradually fading away. It was under these circumstances a new star was born. He is none other than Shehan Ambepitiya, who stormed into the track and field arena with a bang - winning a hat-trick of gold medals at the Junior Commonwealth Games. He completed a hat-trick of gold medals winning the 100m, 200m and 400m, giving Sri Lanka fresh hopes in sprint events.

Born on January 17, 1990 (incidentally the year in which Dissanayake won two Asian Games medals), Ambepitiya's career best performances in both 100m and 200m events were registered in October, 2008 in Pune, clocking 10.43 seconds in 100m and 21.27 seconds in 200m.

He finished 7th in 100m final at the Junior IAAF World Championship. It is not an easy task to get in to the final of any meet at world level and young Ambepitiya has done that in style to be within the top eight junior sprinters in the world.

He had that rare opportunity of making it to the big league as he got a wildcard entry to compete at the 12th IAAF World Championships here in the German capital.

He clocked 10.53 seconds to secure the fifth place in men's 100m first round heats at the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately he was pitted against some tough competitors and out of the 12 men's 100m first round heats, the heat four in which the Lankan lad ran, produced the second fastest timing. There was a sprinter in heat ten who made it to the second round even with a slightly slower timing than Ambepitiya.

All that is history now and Ambepitiya, with the sweet memories he has had at the highest level of track and field, is ready to face the future with confidence.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Ambepitiya said he is confident that he could bring more glory to Sri Lanka at international level. "I am just coming out of junior level to senior level. There is a big gap between the two levels and the transition period is going to be crucial and tough. But I could handle it well and gain necessary standards to prove my worth," he said.

The 19-year-old schoolboy said he was aiming to better his personal best timing of 10.43 seconds. "I don't know where exactly I went wrong. My aim was to better my personal record but that was not there for me. But I feel I did my best," a humble Ambeypitiya said.

"I am still within the world youth group and it would take some time for me to match the senior level. Nevertheless, I am determined to sharpen my skills and come out with better timings in the meets to come. I am working hard with my coach Sunil Gunawardena to meet that challenge," he added.

Running alongside with the big wigs such as Olympic triple gold medallist Tyson Gay and world champion Usain Bolt is not an easy task, especially for a teenager from a country such as Sri Lanka. But Ambepitiya has kept his cool with his head high. Asked whether he was under pressure when competing the cream of world class sprinters, the Lankan lad replied negative. "I did not feel any pressure and kept my cool. But it was a huge challenge and a good experience. It would help me in the big league," a determined international school student from Gateway said.

Soft-spoken Ambepitiya said his immediate goal will be the forthcoming Junior South Asian Championships in India, which will be held in a couple of months time.

"That would provide a good opportunity for me to compete at regional level and under my same age group. That is going to be an important one for me and with the experience I have gained at the highest level, I should be able to make my country proud," he continued.

"Then there will be the Asian Championships and that will give me an opportunity to climb to the Asian senior level from South Asian junior level. That is an ideal lead up for next year's Asian Games in China," said Ambepitiya who has just sat for his London Advanced Level examination.

He is ambitious to progress both his sports as well as academic careers. "I have just done my London ALs and have already won a scholarship to Leeds Metropolitan University in UK.

I intend to do my higher studies in the field of accountancy," he described his career plans.Ambepitiya said a sprinter would sharpen his or her skills with experience and maturity.

"It is all about hard work, dedication and devotion. Both physical and mental stability play an equal role in molding a classy sprinters. In this aspect my coach Gunawardena has been a tower of strength, showing me the right path to success," he continued.

"I am happy with what I have achieved at World junior level. Finishing seventh at World Junior level and winning three gold medals at Commonwealth youth level would inspire me to do even better in the big league. It is not going to be easy.

Hard work and dedication is going to be the key. But I am equally confident that I could make my country proud one day," a determined Ambepitiya concluded.

BERLIN, Sunday.