Uditha Chandrasena had the ability to clear hurdles with both legs, an advantage in 400 metres hurdles. Here he takes part in an athletics event at Diyagama. (Pic RF)

Waiting for the next Olympic hurdler – Part VI

by Reemus Fernando

When one young kid called Ushan Thivanka from a little known school made the winning jump in the Under-11 long jump at a local meet, the talent scouts of Maris Stella College, Negombo made a beeline to the budding talent. No sooner he was recruited by the then athletics stronghold, Maris Stella, he came under the supervision of veteran jumping coach Philip Ranjith. There was no such attention paid to Uditha Chandrasena from Sri Gnanawasa MMV, Divulapitiya, who was placed second in the same event. He went home like all others, not knowing what the future holds for him. Neither Thivanka nor Chandrasena knew that they would soon cross paths again. Today, Chandrasena, who went on to record many outstanding 400 metres hurdles performances at national school level, is an officer in the Sri Lanka Air Force, while Thivanka, the Sri Lankan national record holder in the men’s high jump is perusing his Olympic dream in the US. According to World Athletics statistics, Thivanka’s 2.30 metres performance recorded in May is the 15th best feat in the world this year.

Maris Stella College, Negombo has been in the possession of nearly 100 hurdles since 2010 after the school administration took a bold decision to invest in track and field sports. The three sports schools in the Western Province, namely Henegama Central, Rajasinghe Central and Taxila Central, combined have less than half that number. However, the presence of hurdles does not produce hurdlers. It was by chance that the best hurdler the school has produced to date came under the supervision of the likes of Susan Thamel, Lalith Silva and Tony Silva at Maris Stella around that time.

Studious youngster, Chandrasena passed the grade-five scholarship exam and his mother who had seen the ‘majesty of the College situated adjacent to the Negombo hospital’ during one of her visits, wanted to admit her child there. But her efforts were to no avail as the school was allocating only ten spots for the grade five scholarship students.

But a rare opportunity came his way when Maris Stella conducted a workshop for young athletes. Chandrasena’s father heard the news that reputed sprint coach and Olympian Sunil Gunawardena, his wife Badra and their famous charge Shehan Ambepitiya were coming to conduct the workshop. After his father obtained permission, Chandrasena could attend it and would not miss the coaching eye of Gunawardena who later inquired from the school authorities about the child. “It was the wise words of Gunawardena that made the school recruit me,” says Chandrasena, who later commenced training under Philip Ranjith and surpassed Thivanka to win medals at Junior National level in the long jump.

A couple of years later Ushan Thivanka set his eyes on the high jump as he came under the guidance of Suranji Fernando. Winning the long jump at the national level was not enough for Uditha he wanted to try his luck at a new event, the hurdles.

Maris Stella was famous for allowing young athletes to take up more than one discipline as the points earned by them would come in handy when the national schools championship titles were decided. However, there was no overloading as training was done only three days per week. Uditha however had to take an extra effort to convince ‘Silva Sir’ (Lalith Silva) to take up hurdling. He trained alone before performing a hurdle clearance to convince Silva. It did not take long for him to produce results. In his first year as a Senior John Tarbet Under-16 hurdler, he was only second to Youth Asian Games medallist Anuruddha Vidusanka.

Then on one fine Saturday, he saw pole vaulters undergoing training. Uditha was taken up by the event and immediately wanted to try it. The first thing he did after returning home was to prepare a makeshift pole vault area. After he got substantial training by himself he went to the pole vault coach and exhibited what he could do. In his first year as an Under-17 athlete, Uditha won podium places in all three events, the long jump, hurdles and pole vault at the junior national level.

Uditha Chandrasena making one of his last appearances for Maris Stella. (Pic Nishan S. Priyantha)

Uditha was just over five feet tall when he entered the Under-18 age category but compensated for the height disadvantage with his ability to clear hurdles with both legs. His outstanding performances found him a place in the team for the first-ever Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Doha where he almost won a medal. St. Sylvester’s hurdler Dharshana Rajapaksa compensated by winning the silver. Sri Lanka had two hurdlers featuring in that final.

Both Ushan and Uditha were fighters and had the natural ability to overcome barriers. Thivanka tall and lanky and Uditha short in stature but stoutly built were the shining stars of Maris Stella when they reached their final years. But now only Ushan is pursuing a career in athletics.

“By the time I entered the final year at school I started to realise that if I failed in studies I would be left with nothing. I had missed studies. The good performances at the junior national level were not going to help me. With just six months ahead of A/L, I decided to put all my efforts just to pass the exam. I passed the exam in the maths stream. I could have achieved better grades if I tried again but with my father having to take care of my mother who was ill with cancer I decided to apply to Air Force,” says Chandrasena.

Chandrasena was good in his studies. He had obtained seven ‘A’s and two ‘B’s for the GCE O/L. By the time he left school, he had many junior hurdles records against his name. Certainly, he had displayed the qualities of a future Olympian and could have reached the top at international level like his friend Thivanka, had he received support at the crucial juncture. The search for next Olympic hurdler continues.