(දැනට ලංකාවේ සිටින දක්ෂතම මී.110 කඩුලු මතින් දිවීමේ ක්රීඩකයා)
2012 ජූනි 3 දින සුපුන් විරාජ් රන්දෙණිය ක්රීඩකයා ගැන "SUNDAY ISLAND" පුවත්පතේ පල වූ වාර්තාව.
Randeniya- An Olympian in the making
Pure Sri Lankan coaching powers Randeniya
June 23, 2012, 3:33 pm
by Reemus Fernando
Having already smashed long standing National (junior) records of Olympian Mahesh Perera, 18-year-old Supun Viraj Randeniya is fast approaching timings produced by world’s top hurdlers in his age category. The athlete from Ranabima Royal College, Gannoruwa won a bronze medal at the recently concluded Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Colombo clocking 13.94 seconds in the men’s 110 metres hurdles, becoming the first Sri Lankan ever to run below 14 seconds in the junior category.
The gold medal victories of Dulaj Madusanka and Shivanthi Kumari Rathnayake have rather overshadowed his bronze but according to IAAF points table, the athlete coached by Lakshman Hapuarachchi, has produced the best performance (1078 points) by a Sri Lankan at the four day meet.
Running below 14 seconds was a feat Hapuarachchi had predicted that his athlete would achieve before the end of this year. Probably the newly laid synthetic track and the crowd support were helping him to accomplish the task much before the deadline and snatch a medal out from nowhere.
It was synonymous of Randeniya. He had been proving the predictions of Hapuarachchi right ever since he broke the John Tarbet Senior National record in 2009. Randeniya made it a habit to write his name against a national level record every year since 2009.
Record he lowered last being one of former Olympian Mahesh Perera had set and with only Perera’s Senior National record is left there for him to take, Randeniya is looked up to as a future Olympian although the remaining milliseconds he has to slash would be the hardest to overcome. And to own Perera’s national record Randeniya has to jump over a higher hurdle.
"We are yet to discus when to start doing over the higher (Senior) hurdle. Our immediate aim is to maintain the sub 14 seconds performance through to the close of this year," says Hapuarachchi who identified Randeniya as a future hurdler when he joined Ranabima Royal to do better in studies.
Being the only Sri Lankan athlete to produce a sub 14 seconds performance Randeniya is likely to head for a single horse races at junior level. If Hapuarachchi sticks to his plan Randeniya is unlikely to run against top national athletes over the higher hurdle this year. Hence he would be running mostly to beat his own timing rather than beating his colleagues.
Only once was he beaten this year. At the junior athletics league he was placed second as he entered the track after recovering from an injury. But later he did well qualifying for the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championship at the Junior National Athletics Championship at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium at Diyagama in May. This was what Hapuarachchi told the Sunday Island Sportstar at the end of the Junior Nationals at Diyagama: "He was treated for an injury at Horiwila Vedamahattaya for 16 days. He got injured in early December and the Vedamahattaya cured him to start training in early January this year. He was a little bit taken aback when he was beaten (at the Junior Athletics league), but later he said that it was good to be beaten. From there on he was determined to do well. This performance was a result of his sheer determination."
Most of Sri Lanka’s junior athletes who took part in the Asian Junior had the guidance and expertise of two Cuban coaches who were brought down by the Sorts Ministry. But Randeniya was an exception and that makes Hapuarachchi happier.
"What he received was genuine Sri Lankan coaching. If there were any doubts about the capacity of our coaches, Randeniya has now put those to rest. We should be proud of our coaches," says Hapuarachchi.
Randeniya is one of the seven athletes who have qualified for the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championship which will be held in Barcelona, Spain next month. He will be able to test his skills against the world’s best athletes of his age. And to identify to which heights he could rise.
On the eve of the recently held Asian Junior Athletics Championships he was ranked 16th. Of those strong Asian counterparts there were at least six who had produced sub 14 seconds performances. But Randeniya improved dramatically to clinch the bronze.
His quick progress in his pet event is reminiscent of sprinter Shehan Ambepitiya who too emerged as a future Sri Lanka 100 metres sprinter in his teens. Currently Ambepitiya is training in Jamaica aspiring to achieve qualifying standards for the London Olympics. How soon can Randeniya Randeniya aim for an Olympics berth is a question the experts say is too early to ask. But the hurdler whom his schoolmates lovingly call ‘Superman’ has always dared taking challenges.
අපෙන් බ්හි වූ සුපිරි තරු යටතේ තවත් තරු ගැන තතු ළගදීම...........................................
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