21-year-old Srimali Samarakoon is an outstanding woman weightlifter, holding the present Sri Lanka weightlifting record of 140 Kgs in 48 Kg. weight class. She is an old girl of Habarana Central College who has done higher studies at Mahamaya Girls College, Kandy and qualified to enter the University of Jayawardenapura. She is a rare person who had the talent to do sports as well as studies with the encouragement of her parents.
Srimali has represented the country at the Samoa Youth Commonwealth Games in 2015 in 48Kg weight class when she was just 16 years.
She was unlucky to miss the gold medal by only 1 Kg. which was won by Katherine Jones of Wales. Srimali snatched a 53 Kgs and 72 Kgs in Clean & Jerk to lift a total of 125Kgs, whereas Katherine Jones had a total of 126 Kgs.
She started weightlifting under the veteran coach Nadeeka Bandara, when she was a student of Habarana Central College in 2011 and went on to win the All Island National Schools, Junior Nationals and Senior Nationals every year up to date. After her O/Levels she joined Mahamaya Girls College,Kandy in 2016 and got through her Advanced Level with three ‘A’s which gave the opportunity for her to enter the university of Sri Jayawardenapura, to follow a degree course in Sports Science and Management.
Srimali Samarakoon’s next target will be to win at the Commonwealth Games to be held in 2022 and serve the sports sector of her country. She is thankful to her coach, her parents, Principal and teachers of both schools, the Old Girls Association and her friends for the help and encouragement given to her to improve her weightlifting skills.
She told this correspondent that despite being successful in weightlifting she is really sad about lack of equipment to bring out her best in weightlifting. “If I can train with newest equipment I am sure that I can perform much better,” she said.
She further said that due to Covid-19 epidemic her weightlifting training has come to a standstill, but hope to get back to training soon as time permits.
0 comments:
Post a Comment