“What does the future hold for Puvitharan?

Arunthavarasa Puvitharan of Sri Lanka Army Athletics didn’t just break the national record in Pole Vault on Friday but also recorded the second best result for this year among South Asians, only second to India’s Siva Subramani who is also the regional record holder.

Puvitharan recorded a best attempt of 5.15m bettering the previous national record of 5.11m held by Ishara Sandaruwan for 5 years at the selection trials of the Asian Games and Asian Championships due next year.

The South Asian record by Siva stands at 5.30m and his seasonal best was 5.21m this year. It may seem like he has very little to catch up but considering the difficulty of the sport and having minimal facilities, let alone not being a very competitive event like sprinting or horizontal jumping events, Puvitharan has very limited opportunities to progress ahead.

An alumni of Chavakachcheri Hindu College and Schools Athletics achiever, he has progressed well in the sport to become a national record holder as of today but to become a world class athlete and be a potential medalist at Asian Games, he needs to access better training facilities. The sorry state of the Diyagama stadium is an example.

Yupun Priyadarshana Abeykoon and Ushan Thiwanaka, two leading athletes originally attached to Sri Lanka Army Athletics, who are now South Asian record holders after receiving the opportunity to train overseas and the results are showing well. What if Puvitharan, who is only 22 years and also representing Sri Lanka Army Athletics, received the same opportunity as them?

Not many will remember the former National Record holder in High Jump many decades ago and first Athlete to win an Asian Games Gold, Dr. Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam who is now domiciled in the USA as a professor. Puvitharan has the potential to become an athlete as good as him although not much media attention has been given to his record-breaking achievement.

Let’s rephrase exactly what Dasun Shanaka said last Sunday on winning the Asia Cup. “Cricket is not the only sport ij Sri Lanka. If media can analyse other sports and give the same publicity, it would help those sports a lot.”