Sports Minister commends Prasanna Peiris

Chris Dhambarage

Minister of Sports and Public Recreation Gamini Lokuge yesterday promised to provide every assistance to further enhance the talent and potential of sportsmen and sportswomen in the country.

The Minister made these observations while speaking at a ceremony organised to felicitate the outstanding performance of body builder Prasanna Peiris at the National Olympic House in Torrington Avenue yesterday.

Peiris put up a tremendous effort to win the silver medal in the 65kg weight category at the 63rd World bodybuilding championships held in Doha, Qatar recently.

The Minister of Sports highly commended the efforts of Prasanna Peiris who is employed in Doha, Qatar as a physical fitness instructor since 2004. This made his task much easier and with the clear permission of the Bodybuilding Federation of Sri Lanka and the Sports Ministry he was able to represent the country brimming with confidence. The Minister of Sports also noted that this could be the start of a new career for Prasanna Peiris in this sport while recalling the previous efforts of athletes Duncan White and Susanthika Jayasinghe.

The Minister of Sports stated that this excellent performance of Prasanna Peiris will turn a new leaf in bodybuilding in this country while reassuring his Ministry’s commitment to support all other sportsmen and sportswomen in their future endeavour.

He further noted that the Sports Ministry has launched a special programme to identify particular sporting events that could be reached international standards in South Asian, Asian, Commonwealth, World and at Olympics.

However he lamented that the Sports Ministry cannot afford to provide assistance to each and every athlete representing the sports association. The Minister stressed the importance of participating in selected sporting events that will be of beneficial for the athlete. Several other sportsmen and sportswomen who had won medals at recent international tournaments were also felicitated during this ceremony.

Among them was boxer Anusha Kodituwakku who won a bronze medal at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam. She was joined by another women’s boxer Nilmini Jayasinghe who won a gold medal at the International women’s boxing championships in China.

They were coached by Cuban Rafael Ramirez and Wasantha Kumara.

Meanwhile three wushu players Damayanthi Samarawickrema, Nishadi Lakshika Perera and Bhagya Maduwanthi were also felicitated for winning a silver medal each at the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam.

In addition the Sri Lanka men’s kabaddi team comprising Sanath Kumara, Kapila Bandara, Padma Kumara, G. W. Kumara, Prasad de Silva, Indra Kumara and Nalinda Ranjith won the bronze medals at the 3rd Asian Indoor Games held in Vietnam.