Mild Mannered and Carefree they may be, but brothers Tharindu and Gajitha Paththapperuma become really serious when they take part in competitive gymnastics and their record to date, shows a plethora of achievements that would be the pride and privilege of any sportsman of national class. Tharindu who in the elder brother fell hook, line and sinker for gymnastics in 1997 at Ananda College and has shown remarkable talent since then to come up to national level and represent Sri Lanka in International Competitions.
Tharindu |
Apart from shinning at school meets, Tharindu's first competition was the junior school championship in 2000 where he was placed 4th overall. In 2001 he went one better and was placed 3rd in the same championship. From 2003-2007 Tharindu the extremely talented gymnast was declared national schools champion and went on to secure the National Championship from 2007 to 2010.
He represented Sri Lanka at the Asian Gymnastic Championship held in Syria in 2007 and was the toast of everyone in the Island as he came away with the Silver Medal which remains todate as the highest award obtained in an International championship by a Sri Lankan gymnast. In 2008 President Mahinda Rajapaksa bestowed National honours on him and he was also named the outstanding player of the year in 2007 by Ananda College from whom he received school colours for 6 years.
Gajitha |
He is the first choice in gymnastics for the Commonwealth Games to the held in India in October this year.
His brother Gajitha who is 17 and still at Ananda College unlike his elder brother who is 21 traversed in identical fashion in the field of gymnastics as the elder brother and was Junior school champion from 2003 to 2007. 2006 saw Gajitha emerge Sri Lanka Novices champion and from 2005-2009 was National schools champion in the U-15 and U-17 category.
In 2009 he won the Gold Medal in the parallel bars event at the above meet. In the just concluded Nationals Gajitha bagged 3rd place overall and has also been selected for the Commonwealth Games in India in October. The other who has been selected for these Games is Nadika Cooray who was placed 2nd overall at the Nationals. The three of them are now in Japan for one month doing intensive training for the Commonwealth Games. This was due to the efforts of Mr. Jeevaratnam, the President of the Gymnastics Association who travelled all the way to Japan and made the necessary arrangements. |
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