10th South Asian Games:

Record breaking display by triple jumper Sampath

Chris Dhambarage

ATHLETICS: He thought it would be just another ordinary day on the field. But it turned out to be little different from that. The main attraction was probably on the track events at the Sugathadasa Stadium on that Saturday night.

But very few realized that little known Sampath Weerasinghe from Slimline Sports Club was on the verge of creating history with a record breaking performance in the men's triple jump event.

The former schoolboy of Pannala National School did not even dream of winning a gold medal although he had bettered the Sri Lanka record with a jump of 16.21 metres during the South Asian Games second trial in Colombo. His main intention of course was to produce his best effort and to stretch his more fancied opponents to the maximum.

While the more glamorous track events were been worked off at the main arena, Sampath Weerasinghe was creating a piece of history at the far end of the Sugathadasa Stadium with only a handful of spectators behind him.

But it only helped him to built up more determination and confidence and nothing could have really stopped him from establishing a new South Asian Games record in the most spectacular manner. His performance was even more significant considering the fact that he was up against some of the best in the South Asian region.

But at the end Sri Lanka's Sampath Weerasinghe of Slimline Sports Club came on top winning the event with a record breaking performance and erasing the previous best of 16.16 metres.

Weerasinghe of course did not participate in this event with a good frame of mind because he was somewhat disappointed and dejected with some of the officials of the Athletic Association.

He was at the receiving end and was overlooked for a training program in Malaysia despite winning a gold medal at the Thailand open track and field meet early this year.

Weerasinghe being the number one in Sri Lanka and a specialist in the triple jump event was not even considered for this tour which anyway did not dampen his spirits or discourage him.

Instead he had the fullest backing of his employer Slimline in which Dian Gomes has provided all the training facilities and the equipment in Pannala. In fact Weerasinghe dedicated his gold medal to all those who helped him to reach the pinnacle and vowed to produce a repeat performance at the next Asian Games which will be held in Doha Qatar in December. Weerasinghe has already commenced his preparations for the Asian Games and is determined to reach the top eight in the region.

Even then it was by accident that Sampath Weerasinghe made it to the limelight because earlier his intention was to reach the top as a long jumper.

He showed early signs of been a champion athlete when he set up a new record by clearing a distance of 7.12 metres at the National School Games in 1996.

But at the request of his coach Ranjith Perera, he decided to bid good bye to the long jump and decided to concentrate more on the triple jump event from 1998.

After eight years of real hard work and pain Sampath Weerasinghe has brought Sri Lanka a gold medal and that too with a record breaking performance.

He certainly realized that there is talent in him but more importantly he believed in himself and went about his task in his own style.