Marksman Mangala Samarakoon has brought many laurels to the country

Mangala Samarakoon

Source:Dailynews

Mangala Samarakoon is a former Sri Lankan sport shooter and an Olympian who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England and at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Mudiyanselage Mangala Samarakoon was born on August 26, 1980 in Udukidha, Egodauhana and was educated at the Uva Paranagama MV in Medawela. After leaving school, he took to rifle shooting and excelled at National level in the 50m rifle prone and 10m air rifle events.

He was able to win a total of 105 events at different National and Open events while participating in 26 tournaments from 2003 to 2016 and he was named as the Best Shooter on 11 occasions.

He had the opportunity of participating at the Asian Shooting Championships in Malaysia in 2004 and at the Asian Shooting Championships in Australia in 2006.

At the South Asian Games held in Sri Lanka in 2006 he won the 60 prone Men’s individual Gold Medal while establishing a new Sri Lanka record. At the same meet he secured second place in the 60 prone Men’s team event and took third place in the 3×40 Men’s individual event.

Thereafter, he won the Bronze Medal in the 3X40 Men’s individual event at the 2008 South Asian Games held in Islamabad, Pakistan. Samarakoon settled for fifth place at the 16th Asian Games in China in 2010 while competing in the 50 prone Men’s individual event.

He participated in a number of international events including the 4th Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait in 2011, 12th Asian Shooting Championship in Doha, Qatar in 2012, 20th Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014, 8th Asian AirGun Championship in India in 2015 and 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait in 2015.

At the 12th South Asian Games in India in 2016, he took the Bronze Medal in the 3X40 individual category and won the Silver medal in the 3×40 team event and won third place in the air rifle Men’s team event.

Samarakoon also participated at the Asian Air Gun Championship in Doha, Qatar in 2009 and at the 2009 South Asian Games in Bangladesh he secured the third place in the 3X40 individual event.

He had to settle for seventh place at the 19th Commonwealth Games held in India in 2010 where he competed in the 3×40 individual event. Samarakoon, of course, picked up the sport in 2001 and over the years he evolved into an excellent shooter under the guidance of veteran coaches, Brigadier K. W. Edema and Pushpamali Ramanayake.

He made a name for himself on the international stage when he captured a Gold Medal at the South Asian Games in 2006. It was after this achievement that he upped his intensity level in the sport. He competed in the 10m, 50m, and 3×40 events at both the 2010 Asian Games and the 2010 Commonwealth Games where he achieved great results, ranking 5th and 7th respectively.

Furthermore, at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, Samarakoon scored 592 points, achieving the Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) of 587 for the Olympic Games without difficulty.

It was his performance here that put him in a good place to receive the reallocated quota position for the Games. Samarakoon joined the Sri Lanka Army in 2000 originally for athletics.

However, during military training, his talent for shooting was identified and he made the switch to the new sport. (C.D)