British-born Lankan girl to represent Britain in gymnastics

By Sujeeva Nivunhella
reporting from London

British-born Sri Lankan girl Minuli Sohansa Adikari, aged 11, daughter of a gymnast and gymnastic coach, has been selected to represent Great Britain at the upcoming Gutenberg International Acro Cup in Germany in October.

Talking to Sunday Island, Minuli said that her aim is to participate both in the Olympics and the World Championship and get gold medals in Acrobatic Gymnastics one day. “I would also like to be a gymnastics coach and a judge”, she said.

Minuli started to train at a very young age and joined a club at the age of six and did Artistic Gymnastics mainly because of her father who was a Gymnast and a coach of Artistic Gymnastics. Later at the age of nine, at the request of the Acrobatic Gymnastics coach at her club, she switched to Acrobatics.

Since switching to Acrobatic Gymnastics she has won Gold Medals at the Bristol International Acro Cup and Tiger International Acro Cup. She received a Silver Medal at the English National Championship and came fifth at the World Cup held in Poland.

Her father Gunaratne Bandara who comes from Ipalawa, Wariyapola in Kurunegala District was a Gymnast himself and a coach. The majority of his students in Sri Lanka excelled at All Island and International Competitions and some have now become coaches.

After he arrived in England in 2003, Bandara started his own Gymnastic Club, “Brentford Gymnastic Club” together with his wife Ovini Uthpala Adasuriya. They teach Gymnastics to different age categories starting with three-year-olds. The majority of his pupils are white British.

Talking to the Sunday Island, Bandara said that he is happy that he managed to perform well both as a Gymnast and a coach in Sri Lanka. He said that he is very happy that coming from a rural village in Sri Lanka, he had succeeded in becoming a Gymnastics coach and a judge in England.

Recently he has given cash awards to both male and female champions in Sri Lanka as a token gesture and wants to continue it every year.

Talking about his daughter Minuli he said that he identified her talents at a very young age and trained her accordingly and he and his wife are very proud of her achievements so far.