Sri Lanka basketball picks Tharindu Fernando as World Cup coach

Tharindu Fernando

The head of coach of Gateway International College, Colombo Tharindu Fernando has been appointed as the coach of the Sri Lanka Under-23 team for the upcoming FIBA World Cup in Mongolia.

Tharindu’s appointment has been made by the Sri Lanka Basketball Federation with the blessings of the Sports Ministry and President of the SLBF Aelian Gunawardene.

He is expected to have a long run in the role rather than just do a one-off assignment.

Tharindu began his coaching career as a teenager while still at school, 25 years ago. His passion and love for the game has taken him places.

In an unblemished career, he has gone onto win many championships and in turn has made Gateway College a formidable force in the game of basketball. Commitment has been the key to his and Gateway’s success.

The specialty of coach Tharindu is his use of technology in developing his athletes into champion players. Gateway College became the first school in Sri Lanka to use artificial intelligence into basketball.

The PLAYER brand, which is a brainchild of coach Tharindu, is expected to become an excellent tool to monitor players’ development moving forward according to former players and analysts.

“You don’t have to be the biggest, fastest, strongest player out there. You can’t control your height. You can’t control your athleticism compared to your competitors. But you can control your efforts. You can control your attitude. You can control your work ethic,” Tharindu said.

He also thanked Dr. Harsha Alles, Chairman of Gateway College for all the support rendered to uplift basketball in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Basketball Federation for entrusting him with this responsibility.

He is expected to create a professional atmosphere in basketball so that one day US coaches would be able to take over.

Former players said Tharindu’s career is a prime example for all budding coaches that through sheer hard work, innovation and of course passion they can go onto achieve great things.

The technology aspect that he used to turn around things for Gateway is expected to stand in good stead for Sri Lankan basketball as Tharindu takes up this new challenge.