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Still in the running
By Aaysha Cader

D.L.W. Upali is full of smiles. And why not, since this 54-year-old kidney transplant patient bagged a bronze medal at a major international sporting event held in France last month.

Upali leads a contented life. Happily married and father of a 20-year-old son, he gets about his day-to-day work like anyone else. On looking at him no one would guess that he is a kidney transplant patient who underwent surgery 19 years ago, under the care of Prof. Rezvi Sheriff.

Upali represented Sri Lanka and won a medal at the 16th World Transplant Games held in the French city of Nancy, Lorraine from July 19-27. Organized by the World Transplant Federation, the games aimed to present the heroic exploits of transplant athletes and show the world how successful organ donations have become. The event brought together 1500 participants from fifty different countries and celebrated their success as athletes. It also saw competition in a dozen different sports, including track and field, kayaking, swimming, cycling, rifle shooting and tennis.

Upali bagged the bronze in the cricket-ball throw. "We should be proud of him," says Prof. Sheriff as Upali displays his coveted medal. According to the professor he is "a natural winner" and this is not the first time Upali has won at international meets.

So where did it all start?

In 1997, a Sri Lankan contingent of five athletes and three officials participated at the World Transplant Olympic Games in Sydney. Says Upali, "After Prof. Sheriff took us to Sydney and I competed there, I felt the fear leave me and gradually I got better at competitions. I am not afraid to compete anymore."

Having secured 4th place in the cricket-ball throw in Sydney, Upali won an exceptionally high tally of six medals at the SAARC Transplant Games in Amritsar, India in 1998, bagging gold medals for the 100m, 200m, 400m and cricket-ball throw events, silver for long jump and bronze for shot-putt.

Despite his success at international events, it has not been an easy ride for Upali who works as a security guard at the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka. Upali says that working hours have restricted him from practising as much as he would like. A resident of Wanathamulla, he exercises and jogs at the M.H. Mohamed grounds for two hours after work. He concedes that practice times are not regular, adding that more organized training sessions might have resulted in better success.

"Funding is a problem," says Prof. Sheriff. Having realized the necessity for an organized body to bring together the talents of transplant athletes, he established the Sri Lanka Transplant Sports Federation in 1997.

Funds for Upali's trip to the World Transplant Games came from Western Infirmary (Pvt.) Ltd and Lions Clubs in Nancy, France through the World Transplant Games Organization.

The Sri Lanka Transplant Sports Federation successfully organized the National Transplant Games in 2002, an event that saw the participation of a number of athletes in the island. The Federation hopes to hold the 2nd National Games in Colombo on October 4 and 5 and is looking forward to public support for this worthy endeavour.

Prof. Sheriff said that discussions were now underway to affiliate the Federation to the Sports Ministry, adding that practice sessions for the athletes participating at international events were previously arranged by Dr. Geethanjan Mendis, the vice-president of the Federation, who is affiliated to the Ministry of Sports. The national coach is J.M. Ranasinghe.

Over 500,000 people around the world have benefited from the donation of organs. "The public must be made aware to support this. They should be informed that it's worth donating organs and making a person with kidney failure live well, to be a normal person in a really competitive society," says Professor Sheriff. Recounting his experiences in Nancy, Upali says of his fellow competitors, "You can't say that they have all been patients. They compete in almost every sport, just like normal people."

Still in the running By Aaysha Cader

Still in the running
By Aaysha Cader