Athula Wijewickrema – a talented weightlifter, coach and administrator-by Upananda Jayasundera
Athula Wijewickrema, Pic by Upananda Jayasundera, Kandy Sports Special Corr
Source:Dailynews
Athula Wijewickrema, a product of Kingswood College took up weightlifting at the age of 12 years in 1980 under the guidance of his uncle S. A. Wijewickrema who revived the sport in 1962 after 10 long years at the YMCA, Kandy.
At the start, after several years of training Athula Wijewickrema won the Junior National Championship by establishing several records.
He represented Sri Lanka at the Junior World Championship in 1984 in the United Kingdom. He graduated to the senior category and won the Nationals which he dominated for 16 long years to establish over 30 Sri Lanka records and was adjudged Best Lifter five times, a very rare achievement.
As a lifter, coach and manager, Athula represented Sri Lanka at the Junior World Championship in the UK in 1984, SAF Games in India in 1987, Asian Championship in China in 1988, Moscow Friendship Games in 1988, Silver Dragon World Cup Meet in UK, SAF Games in Pakistan both in the year 1989, Silver Dragon World Cup Meet again in UK and SAF Games in Colombo winning a Bronze Medal in 1991, SAF Games in India and won a Bronze Medal in 1995 and SAF Games in Nepal in 1999.
As a powerlifter, Athula won a Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Sports Competition in South Africa in 2017 and bagged a Gold Medal at the Asian Weightlifting Championship held in India in the 105Kg in 2018. Athula established an Asian Record in the squat lifting of 265kg erasing a previous record of 250kgs. As a weightlifting coach he was at the Asian Inter-City Meet held in Thailand in 2002, SAF Games in Pakistan in 2004, SAF Games in Colombo in 2006, Namju Cup in Iran in 2009, Commonwealth Championship in Samoa in 2006, Commonwealth Championship in Malaysia in 2009, Commonwealth Championship in South Africa in 2011 and SAF Games in Nepal in 2012.
Athula is a Grade One Referee in Sri Lanka as well as an International Referee and he followed a Coaching Course under a Bulgarian weightlifting coach in 1981 and in 1988 and in 2002 under a Hungarian Coach.
He has produced over 2,000 weightlifters and most of them have won national and international medals.
Among them are S. Wijesuriya (Gold), Chinthana Vidanage (Gold), Nadini Gunasekera (Gold), Dhammika Harischandra (Gold) and Indika Dissanayake (Gold) to name a few.
Athula, has been a Strength and Conditioning Instructor at Trinity College, Kingswood College and St. Anthony’s College and currently functions as a Sports Officer in the Development Section of the Ministry of Sports.
