Summa recalls memorable school days as he turns 95
A living Sri Lanka sports legend Summa Navaratnam once dubbed the ‘fastest man in Asia’ turned 95 on May 21.
“I dropped about 10 pounds in the last two months without going out because I can’t walk too far. Mentally I am going crazy. It’s a good thing in a way. I feel good,” said Summa delighted to be greeted on his birthday on Thursday morning.
Summa Navaratnam
“It’s just normal living. Fighting with people, getting friendly with people, enjoying a normal life,” quipped Summa when asked for the secret of his longevity.
Asked to recall his best memories, he harked back to his days at Royal College where he excelled in athletics, rugby and boxing.
“The most enjoyable days of my life were my school days. I enjoyed going to school because we didn’t have so much of homework to do and we survived. Quite a few of our rugger players became doctors, lawyers and civil servants. I ended up joining the Royal (Ceylon) Air Force,” said Summa who gained the accolade as the ‘fastest human in Asia’ when he clocked a record 10.4 seconds after scorching the grass track at the India States Olympic Meet in Madras in 1953.
Having swept all before him in the 100, 200 and 400 metres after bursting into the limelight as a 15-year-old schoolboy, the Ace Athletic Club star was overlooked for the 1948 London Olympic Games despite being the undisputed king of sprints. Nonetheless he teamed up with Sri Lanka’s first Olympic medallist Duncan White, Oscar Wijesinghe and John de Saram to anchor the 4x100m relay team at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
He blazed a trail on the field of rugby as a flying winger for Royal, CR&FC and Sri Lanka scoring some memorable tries one of which was a dazzling effort against Trinity.
“I was first an athlete before I became a rugger player. It was because of my running prowess that I became a good rugger player. You see athletics is the base of all sport. If you are good athlete you can take up to any sport. For all the games you need it (athletics), be it cricket or rugger,” said Summa when asked on why he chose to play rugby.
He encouraged the present generation to engage in more than one sport.
“I always say keep fit by training. Go and do a sport you love best but don’t stick to one discipline only. Enjoy all your sporting activities. Become an athlete, a boxer, a rugger player or cricketer or whatever,” said Summa who was a rugby coach par excellence and also served as president of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union in 1974.
He brings this philosophy to his Summa Navaratnam Junior Rugby Academy as well.
“My academy is for boys only from grade 1 to grade 4. I used to give them the basic training not only in rugby alone but in all sports so they could decide whatever sport they go into. We have athletics, tennis, football and basketball. So they learn the basics of all sports. At the end only they get a rugger ball and they get to decide what they want to do when they get to grade 4,” said Summa who coached Royal, CR&FC, Police and Isipathana.
Summa’s eyes lit up when talking about the Bradby, hopeful it would take place this year.
“Once the country opens up you need at least four weeks of preparation. Then one or two practice matches before the Bradby. We had no break so far except 1971 when one match was not played in Fred Perera’s year. This year they may or may not play. It all depends on Trinity now,” said Summa who played in the pre-Bradby era from 1940 to 43 but guided Royal to triumph in the series on eight occasions.
In a rallying cry to unite a nation fractured by race and religion, the oldest living sporting icon said: “I always tell youngsters, you are born a Sri Lankan first to parents who may be Sinhala or Tamil or whatever. Then you learn a language and adopt a religion. Language makes a race but race doesn’t make a language.”