Kasuni Udeshika outstanding weightlifter, athlete and elle player-by Dilwin Mendis
Kasuni Udeshika
Source: Dailynews
Weightlifter, athlete, cricketer, elle player and Commonwealth Games representative in Weight lifting Halpandeniya Hewage Kasuni Udeshika has brought honour and glory for her two schools Indipolegoda Maha Vidyalaya Galle, Ananda Vidyalaya Elpitiya and her motherland.
Kasuni was at her first school from Grade one to eleven and later from Grade twelve and thirteen at her second school. Her first Principal was M. B. Wimalasiri and first class teacher was Mrs. Suneetha. She commenced her sports career in 2013 when she was in Grade Eight and in athletics she did Putt Shot, Discus and Javelin in the under 14 age group and she swept the board and became the Champion Athlete. She played in the Inter House Tournaments in Elle and Cricket for four years and captained the cricket teams and her coach and teacher in charge for all these games was Mrs. Malkanthi. Her parents H. H. Kumudu and K. A. Kusumalatha noticing her talents for Weightlifting admitted their daughter to Niyagama Thurunu Apusara Wightlifting Centre and she came under Chanaka Subasinghe in 2014.
He first attempt in Weightlifting was in under 15 All Island Schools age group in 2015 under 69kgs category and she won a Silver Medal and in the same year at the Southern Province School Games she won another Silver and in 2016 in the All Island School Games in the under 16 age group she won a Silver and her first Gold Medal was at the Southern Province inter school meet and at the Junior National Championship she grabbed another Gold At the Sri Lanka novices Weight lifting Championship she won another Gold and with all these performances under her belt she was selected for the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in the under 69kgs weight category and she got the fourth place out of 64 countries and this was a fine exposure for her weightlifting career and after returning to the island she participated in the National Sports Festival and won a Gold.
In 2017 in the under 17 All Island School Games she won a Gold and in the National Sports Festival she grabbed a Silver and at the Sri Lanka Junior Nationals under 75kgs category she won a Gold In the under 17 All Island Novices Championship she won another Gold and in the Nationals she won a Bronze and in 2018 Inter Provincial Meet under 75kgs she won a Gold At the All Island School games a Gold Medal and in the open Junior Tournament a Gold and in the National Festival a Bronze and in the All Island under 76kgs a Gold and in 2019 a Bronze at the National Festival and last year she won another Gold at the National Sports Festival under 75kgs and a Gold in the Southern Province Meet.
At Ananda Vidyalaya Elpitiya she came first in Discus and Putt Shot and second in Javelin and she played for the school volleyball team and became the Best Player and played for the elle team and for all these three games the Principal . Vikum and her Weightlifting Coach Tharaka Subasinghe are supportive all the time. During a five year tenure in Weightlifting she has participated in 18 meets and won 12 Golds, four Silvers and two Bronzes
