Sangeeth wins two Gold Medals

S M Jiffrey ABDEEN- Kandy sports corr

Twenty-five-year old Sangeeth Wijesuriya is a village lad from Galgamuwa off the beaten track who hardly knew weightlifting was six years ago but has met good success by winning two gold medals at International weightlifting meets.

Sangeeth Wijesuriya is presently with the Sri Lanka Army and does his training at Kandy YMCA under the guidance of one time National Weightlifting coach Athula Wijewickrema.

Sangeeth Wijesuriya said that he is a village lad and was educated at Galgamuwa Madhya Maha Vidyalaya where he did not do any sports as they did not have much facilities. In the year 2005 he joined the Army as he found that there was a growing love in him for sports and the only option he had to pursue this was by joining the forces.

His first championship title win was in 2008 at the Army inter unit weightlifting championship in the 56 kilogramme category. The same year at the National Sports Festival held at Beliatta he won a silver.

In the year 2010 he won a gold medal at the National Sports Festival and from here there was no looking back. He won a gold at the same championship in 2011.

His first international exposure was the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi in 2010 where he was placed sixth in the 56 kg. Category.

In 2010 at the Asian Games held in China he was placed 12th in the same body weight category. His first international gold medal was at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship held in Cape Town, South Africa by snatching 103 kilogrammes and Clean and Jerking 133 kilogrammes to make a total of 236 kilogrammes which equalled the existing Sri Lanka record.

He struck next gold at the South Asian Weightlifting Championship held in Kathmandu, Nepal last month when he snatched 100 kilogrammes later clean & jerked 132 to aggregate 232 kilogrammes.

This was his second gold medal at an international meet.

Sangeeth Wijesuriya said that he is grateful to the Army for providing him with employment which helps him to continue his weightlifting.

He was first introduced to weightlifting by R. B. Wickremasinghe at the Ministry of Sports and he was also the national coach at one time. At present he is training at the Kandy YMCA under the guidance of Athula Wijewickrema and S. A. Wijewickrema too helps him.

He said that he is maintaining his body weight at 56 kilogramme where his chances are greater in winning a medal for the country at international meets.