NOCSL name Dharmawardana and Gehani to lead Sri Lanka Olympic team

By Susil Premalal

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) has officially named judoka Chamara Nuwan Dharmawardana (men) and gymnast Milka Gehani (women) as captains of the Sri Lanka contingent at the Tokyo Olympics.  

Sri Lanka has named nine athletes and 14 officials for the 2020 Games to be held from July 23 to August 8 in the Japanese capital Tokyo after being postponed from last year.  

The Tokyo Olympic organisers wanted to name a male and female leader from each country, according to Sri Lanka’s team’s Chef de Mission Gamini Jayasinghe.  

Men’s captain Dharmawardana who represented Sri Lanka at the 2016 Rio Olympics Games is a experienced campaigner while women’s captain Gehani is participating in the Olympics for the first time.  

The most experienced sports star in Sri Lanka’s Olympic team is shuttler Niluka Karunaratne who is participating in his third and possibly final Olympics.  

Out of the nine-member Sri Lanka named for the Olympics, six of them are training overseas with Dharmawardana Nimali Liyanarachchi (athletics) and shooter Tehani Egodawela set to fly from Sri Lanka.  

Chef de Mission Jayasinghe is set to depart on July 14 while the other members of the contingent are expected to reach Tokyo by July 19.  

Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa has approved the following nine-member team to represent Sri Lanka at the Olympics. They are Chamara Dharmawardana (judo 73kg men), Niluka Karunaratne (badminton men’s singles), Yupun Abeykoon (athletics 100m men), Matthew Abeysinghe (swimming 100m freestyle men), Tehani Egodawela (shooting 10m air rifle women), Milka Gehani (artistic gymnastic women), Mathilda Karlsson (equestrian - showjumping women), Nimali Liyanarachchi (athletics 800m women) and Aniqah Gaffoor (swimming 100m butterfly women).  

Officials: Dinuka Karunaratne (Badminton coach), Pradeep Edirisinghe (Manager shooting), Manoj Abeysinghe (Swimming coach, Kapila Jeewantha (Manager gymnastic), Ranjan Tharanga (Gymnastic coach), Suranjith Premadasa (Equestrian Manager), Nikoley Borisov Nikolov (Equestrian groom), Manfred von Allworden (Horse assistant person), Cedric Jaky Lin Marie (Veterinarian), Aenne Mueller (Training pass), Amal Rathnayaka (Jodo coach) Sujith Abeysekara (Athletic  coach ) Clavdio Licciardello (Athletic  coach).

Admin officials: Chef de Mission – Gamini Jayasinghe, Press Attacher – Wing Cdr (rtd) Chandana Liyanage, Covid-19 Liaison Officer - Dr. Himan de Silva, Administrative personnel – Hansika Wijayagunasekera.