For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, an Olympic athlete to the Parliament

Olympian and Asian gold medalist Sugath Thilakaratne has been elected to Parliament from the national list. This was the first time in the history of Sri Lankan sports that an athlete who represented an Olympic Games represented the Parliament.

Tillakaratne, who has been nominated to the Parliament by the National People’s Party, has yet to break the Sri Lankan record set by 44.61 seconds at the Fukuoka Asian Athletics Championship in Japan in 1998.