Lest they shoudl be forgotten: The pride of Mother Lanka

It is said that the people of Brazil built a 60-foot statue of legendary Brazilian tennis player, Maria Bueno, in recognition of her achievements. She was the only Brazilian female tennis player to have ever won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Title; in fact, not just once, but thrice.

By Dr B. J. C. Perera

Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and a sportsman

A few weeks ago, it was a beautiful sight to behold, and such a humbling experience to see as well, one of our countrymen kneeling in front of our lovely National Flag spread on the surface of the athletic track and worshipping it in a sporting arena in Tokyo, Japan. Then we saw the magnificent spectacle of that very same man ever so proudly standing in the centre first position in the winner’s podium, with the very first gold medal any Sri Lankan sportsperson has ever won in any Olympiad, with our glorious National Anthem being played for the very first time ever in an Olympic event. It definitely did make all of us feel proud to the core, to be Sri Lankans. Those outstanding visual images would live on forever throughout the corridors of time.

The man who brought all this glory to our beloved Motherland is the Paralympic javelin thrower Dinesh Priyantha Herath. We salute this great son of Sri Lanka and are over the moon to declare our intense pride in his achievement. He is a man who was injured in battle in our 30-year long war and his never-say-die attitude and charisma is a wonderful lesson to all Sri Lankans.

In these dreary days of a COVID-19 pandemic, it was a soothing balm to take away the misery and chaos caused by a tiny virus, at least for a little while. Scores of people who saw the entire event on television would have had misty eyes of joy and pride in his achievement. I know that it was so for me too. The icing on the cake of that triumph is that he broke the World Record in the F46 category with a throw of 67.79 metres in a searing atmospheric temperature of 33 degrees Celsius in full and bright sunshine in Tokyo.

It really was a victory secured through blood, sweat and guts. In a telling gesture of love, he dedicated his gold medal to his wife, who looked after him, their children and the closely knit family. WHAT A MAN? WHAT AN ACHIEVER? WHAT A FABULOUS SOURCE OF INSPIRATION TO ALL OUR SPORTSPERSONS? Most definitely the Pride of the whole of Sri Lanka.

In his shadow, there is his dedicated veteran coach Pradeep Nishantha who made it all possible. Only a sportsperson will know the seminal role played by a coach in the success of a sportsperson who is in his or her charge. Pradeep Nishantha must surely have worked as hard as Dinesh Priyantha to make the latter a world-beater. We need to heartily congratulate Pradeep Nishantha too.

In the ecstasy of the ground-breaking feat of Dinesh Priyantha Herath, there is perhaps another achievement that has gone almost unnoticed. There is another sportsman; the southpaw Samitha Dulan Kodituwakku, who secured a Bronze Medal with a throw of 65.61 metres in Tokyo in a different F64 Javelin Throwing event. That is no mean accomplishment either. He may have come third but an Olympic Medal is just that; an OLYMPIC MEDAL. He deserves our accolades for such an accomplishment too. We are all so proud of him too.

Politicians of various hues of attachment nearly fell over each other to congratulate Dinesh Priyantha. When the euphoria calms down and the dust settles, many will forget about this great man. Unfortunately, it is the ever so lamentable Sri Lankan culture. But he is of such stature, literally and metaphorically, that we cannot allow him to be forgotten. In fact, we cannot allow Pradeep Nishantha and Samitha Dilan Kodituwakku to be forgotten either. We need to do much more for all three of them; we need to make absolutely sure that they are rewarded in a most proper way that they would remember forever.

It is said that the people of Brazil built a 60-foot statue of legendary Brazilian tennis player, Maria Bueno, in recognition of her achievements. She was the only Brazilian female tennis player to have ever won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Title; in fact, not just once, but thrice.

We do not have to go as far as the Brazilians went, to honour our heroes mentioned in this article. It is essential that all of us recognise and felicitate them in a most fitting manner. They have to be rewarded in a manner which will make them to never ever have to look around for money, or anything else of concern to them, ever again. We do hope that our government, the sports bodies and many a philanthropist would ensure that this will be done.

Then, all of us would be able to sit back and perhaps bask in the glory of the thought that we have done our heroes proud by this gesture of appreciation and goodwill for their contribution towards the aggrandizement of sports. After all, they richly deserve it. They are the world-beating Sri Lankans. They are the pride and glory of our beloved Motherland. They should not be forgotten; NEVER EVER.