Sprint specialist Dissanayake brought pride and glory to Sri Lanka

Sriyantha Dissanayake

Sriyantha Dissanayake

Sriyantha Subhashan Abeysekera Dissanayake, who represented Sri Lanka in the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the Barcelona Olympic Games, 1992 was born in Colombo on April 3, 1969.

He had his early education at D. S. Senanayake College and later joined Nalanda College, Colombo. He participated in athletic events since his young days and in 1979 at the All-Island Inter-Schools Sports Festival held in Badulla, he won the Under-11 Championship and was able to register his first major victory.

He did not look back thereafter and stepped into the international arena in 1986. His first international meet was the Junior Asian Athletics Championships held in Indonesia in 1986.

In 1987 he competed at the National Athletics Championship Meet for the first time and won the 100metres event registering a time of 10.9 seconds

In the same year he represented Sri Lanka at the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games held in Kolkata, India and was placed fifth in the 200 metres event.

At the Nationals in 1988, he won the 100 metres event registering a time of 10.8 seconds and won the 200 metres event registering a new record time of 22.1 seconds.

In the same year he participated in the Malaysian National Athletics Championships, World Junior Athletics Championships held in Canada and the Asian Junior Athletics Championships held in Singapore.

At the SAF Games held in Islamabad, Pakistan, he won a Silver Medal in the 100 metres and a Bronze Medal in the 200 metres. He also participated in the Asian Athletics Championships held in New Delhi, India the same year.

He also set up a new national record for the 200 metres registering a time 21.1seconds in 1990. At the Asian Games held in Beijing, China in 1990 Sriyantha won a Silver Medal in the 200 metres and a Bronze Medal in the 100 metres.

This was the first occasion that Sri Lankan athletes won medals at the Asian Games since the victories in 1974. At the 1991 SAF Games, Sriyantha won three Gold Medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4X100 metres relay events.

Sriyantha participated in the 100metres and 200metres events at the Barcelona Olympic Games. In the 200metres event he was able to qualify for the second round.

Thereafter, he participated in an invitation meet in Malaysia and won the Gold Medal in the 100metres and 200metres events.

Sriyantha’s coaches were Lakshman de Alwis and S. M. G. Bandara. He served as a Cadet Officer in the Army for a short while and later joined Ceylinco Group as a Junior Executive.

He was awarded the Duncan White Trophy in 1990. In 1991, he was chosen as the Sports Star of the Year and the Most Popular Sports Star. Sriyantha was a member of the Sri Lak Athletic Club. (C.D)