Sachini sets new SL record in Pole Vault

Gymnast turned Pole Vaulter Sachini Perera set a new Sri Lanka record as she cleared 3.56m in the women’s pole vault at the 98th National Athletics Championship 2020 held at Sugathadasa Stadium . She shattered the previous record of 3.55m held by Jaffna’s Anitha Jegatheeswaran.

A resident of Gampaha District, which was one of the worst affected Districts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sachini could not train for weeks, and then when she managed to resume training, it was at a self-prepared facility by her coach Sanath Gunarathne at his house.

“We were planning to peak mid-year but didn’t even have a proper place to train due to the pandemic and trained at Coach’s place. Very happy to shatter the record from the little preparation I had,” said Sachini.

“I always motivated them to train despite whatever the challenges they had,” said Gunarathne.

Perera who represented Sri Lanka in the Commonwealth Games 2014 as a Gymnast later turned to athletics following an invitation from the coach, and has come a long way since then.

“At the beginning, she didn’t have a job. Even the Forces refused to recruit her due to her height, but later Army took her under their wing,” added Gunarathne.

All three medals of the event were won by athletes trained by Gunarathne. Men’s record holder Ishara Sandaruwan too trained under him, though he said he needs further knowledge to train elite athletes.

“There are education opportunities for pole vault coaches and I would like to get a chance to further learn about this,” said Gunarathne, who hasn’t received proper recognition for his hard work over the years to uplift pole vault event in Sri Lanka.