Wijekoon good bet for a medal at next Olympics

The former schoolboy of Welimada MMV and Lanka Lions athlete will have a great chance of proving his potential when he competes in the up-coming 11th South Asian Games meet which begins on January 29 in Dhaka, Bangladesh:

Chris Dhambarage

He launched his career as a long distance runner and made an early impact in the road races, 10,000 and 5000 metres events. But after a couple of years he took a bold decision and switched to the more glamorous 1500 metres with the intention of further enhancing his career prospects. Now after nearly ten years of tough competition and a series of gruelling training sessions both at home and overseas twenty eight year old Chaminda Indika Wijekoon of Sri Lanka Army has emerged as Sri Lanka’s best bet for a medal at the next Olympic Games in 2012.

The former schoolboy of Welimada MMV and Lanka Lions athlete will have a great chance of proving his potential when he competes in the up-coming 11th South Asian Games meet which begins on January 29 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

In fact the South Asian Games will be a significant one for Wijekoon who has been selected to captain the entire Sri Lankan squad for the first time. He is really proud of his achievements and is looking forward to completing a successful event at the Games.

The only concern for him is the fact that he had already produced his one hundred percent at last year’s Asian Championships in China where he came out with a superlative performance to snatch a silver medal while competing under tremendous pressure.

There is a very short recovery period between the events at the Asian Championships and the South Asian Games and his training in Kenya was also restricted to a certain extent due to the bad weather in that country.

However Wijekoon is determined to make the South Asian Games a memorable one despite the fact that he will be put under severe test from his rival competitors from India and Pakistan. In fact he recalled the scenes in China where he was strongly challenged by an Indian runner who went on to win the bronze medal at the Asian Championships.

Even then for Wijekoon the Asian championships in China is still his best effort considering the fact that he was up against the top six in the region. He was able to overcome the challenges from two Kenyans, two Ethiopians, one Algerian and one from Morocco who were representing Asian countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.

The Kenyan athletes who always train very much above sea level in particular possess with them the basic endurance which is a born talent and to beat them at a top international event is a tremendous achievement. The 1500 metres may be a glamour event but the common belief is that the competitor who commits the least amount of mistakes throughout the race will stand a chance of winning.

It is under these circumstances that Wijekoon has taken up the challenge and overcome many obstacles through his sheer courage and determination. He of course never anticipated that he would become Sri Lanka’s best ever middle distance runner after he switched from being a long distance runner more than ten years ago.

He was of course placed first in his maiden appearance in a 1500 metres event when he participated in a national trial while clocking three minutes and 48 seconds. Since then he has made vast strides and had the opportunity of erasing his own national record on five occasions after he had initially shattered Lalith Galappathy’s record.

Now he has a best timing of three minutes 43.80 seconds which he achieved at the Sri Lanka National championships and is hoping to touch the three minutes and 38 seconds barrier which is also the qualifying mark for the Olympic Games.

This has been his main target for a long period and is set to reach the peak form soon after the Asian Games which will be followed by another training session in Kenya under the supervision of Joseph Gooray and Jimmy Beutizimba. In fact the coaching program in Kenya has completely changed his training system and the preparations which have made him more competitive and strong both physically and mentally.

With his natural ability to accelerate during the final stages of the race Wijekoon has developed all the skills and the technique of becoming a top middle distance runner and is set to produce all the ingredients of success in the coming years.

In fact his strong area is the excellent finish and the final kick which he has mastered and executed to near perfection that has surprised some of the more fancied athletes. He proved this fact by running the last 300 metres in 38 seconds at the Asian Championships in China and at the Lusufonia Games in Lisbon last year.

That has given him a great amount of confidence to further enhance his career prospects ahead of fulfilling his long standing dream of winning a medal at the Olympic Games for his country. Apart from his training sessions in Kenya Wijekoon also had the opportunity of making a tour to Europe where he participated in a couple of international meets in Italy. Thereafter he was able to strike gold twice for Sri Lanka at the Lusufonia Games in 2006 and 2009 respectively. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) then rewarded him with the captaincy of the Sri Lankan contingent for the South Asian Games following his outstanding contributions in the recent past.

Wijekoon who was born in Gampaha moved to Welimada after three years and had his early education at Dikkapitiya MV. He then joined Welimada MMV from grade seven and showed early promise of turning into a top class athlete while winning several open road races.

However he stopped athletics for a short period and again re launched his career after joining Lanka Lions Sports Club in 1998. He first came into the limelight when he powered his way to win the Lanka Lions open road race in the same year. Thereafter he was able to meet veteran athletic coach and late Brigadier Parry Liyanage who completely changed his career and laid the platform for a successful career. In fact it was on the directives of Brigadier Liyanage that Wijekoon decided to switch to the 1500 metres event and that decision certainly has worked well and has produced a great amount of results.

Brigadier Liyanage realizing the fact that Wijekoon has the potential to become a top athlete did not hesitate to provide all the assistance including accommodation at his residence and all other facilities that required at the early stage of his career. Not only that Brigadier Liyanage also made certain that Wijekoon found employment at Sri Lanka Army which has been providing great support since then. He first went through the basics of athletics under the guidance of his school coach Sisira Kumara and also came under the supervision of Gunasiri Dissanayake and S. P. Kulatunga.

He is currently training under Sri Lanka Army coach Major Lal Jayasekera and is very much grateful to Brigadier Palitha Fernando, Hemasiri Fernando, Prema Pinnawela, Amal Jayasinghe and Kapila Wijegoonawardena for all their support and encouragement.