by Reemus Fernando

Old Walala Athletes’ Association will felicitate their mentor and coach Susantha Fernando for his three decades of service to Ratnayake Central at a function on Saturday.

Fernando trained Ratnayake Central for three decades before giving up on the coaching assignment during the pandemic to concentrate on the athletes he has produced to senior level.

Ratnayake Central reached great heights during his long association with the school.

A little known school, when he first took up coaching, Ratnayake Central did not even have a proper 200 metres track. From a mere lowly placed school in the Central Province it climbed up ranks to be the athletics strong hold of the island, winning both the Girls’ and Boys’ overall titles simultaneously on an unprecedented 19 occasions.

The rising profile of the school was the reason for Central Province authorities to establish it as the Sports School of the Province in the mid 90s.

There has hardly been a national schools sports event where the name of Ratnayake Central was not associated with an overall title or a runner up title during the last two decades. As an official of the school recounts Ratnayake Central has won the championship or a runner up title at the John Tarbet Senior, All Island Schools Games Athletics Championship or the All Island Relay Championships on 72 occasions under Fernando’s stewardship. That is a feat that will be hard to match.

Ratnayake Central athletes trained by Fernando have gone on to win at Junior Asian Athletics Championship (seven medals), Asian Youth Games, Youth Olympic (1000m B grade 3rd), South Asian Junior Athletics Championships (7 medals at the last meet alone), Asian Athletics Championships, Asian Schools Games, South Asian Games (four golds at the last edition alone) and many regional international events apart from representing the country at many World Youth, World Junior, Asian Championship, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

From Manoj Pushpakumara who won back to back Asian Junior Championship medals in the early 2000s and held the All Island Schools 800 metres record for nearly two decades to South Asian Games triple gold medalist Dilshi Kumarasinghe who is among the current crop of national athletes, Fernando has guided dozens of middle and long distance runners to achieve success. There are hundreds of other trainees who have become coaches and Physical Education Teachers. They are expected to attend the felicitation ceremony which will be held at the Araliya Hotel, Digana on Saturday.