When I flagged down a cab in the mad morning rush to keep a medical appointment in Sharjah some time in 2018, little did I know it would be a pleasant detour to a once-in-a-life-time breaking story. My jaw dropped in disbelief as a casual conversation revealed my 10-minute cheffeure is a forgotten hero, Sri Lanka’s middle distance runner with international gold and silver medals under his belt.
The story of Lalith Prasanna Galappaththi reeks of the neglect and indifference that retired heroes typically face in the cruel world of sports in the subcontinent. He is a decorated athlete who brought laurels to the island nation and is still running the marathon of his life, struggling to make ends meet.
Lalith was not the only impoverished former hero who had to leave Sri Lanka to eke out a miserable existence elsewhere. Lalith’s childhood friend and former record holder, DW Prasantha, worked in Abu Dhabi as a security guard, too.
Hailing from Nawalapitiya, Prasantha started off as a judo player in the ’80s. after passing his O Level, he joined the army in 1987 and continued as a member of the army judo team up to 1989. Athletics was not his cup of tea until Brigadier RP Liyanage, a national coach, convinced Prasantha to give up judo as he was blessed with the physical attributes for an athlete.
“He promised to train me, so I changed my event from judo to long-distance running,” reminisces Prasantha. “I started to train in the 10,000 and 5,000 metres events, and the turning point came in 1991 when I won gold in 5,000 metres.”
In 1991, Prasantha changed his event to 3,000 metres steeplechase and came out with flying colours in the event in 1993. “It was a national record. I won gold in the 3,000 metres steeplechase in a dramatic 09:05:07 time.” Prasantha’s performance started to go downhill in 1994- 1995 as civil war raged in the country’s north. training was stopped and athletes were dispatched to the war front.
It was 6.30pm on May 5, 2001. The sky was getting darker when guns suddenly boomed in the distance. Prasantha and 19 other sergeants, who were chatting around in a camp in Jaffna’s Nagercoil war front, were taken aback when shells started to rain down. It was an attack on their camp by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil eelam. seven artillery shells slammed into the camp, killing five of them and injuring six. There was blood everywhere. Prasantha was soon knocked out as artillery shrapnel pierced his chest. a bleeding and unconscious Prasantha was immediately removed to a bunker.
“I still have a half-inch piece of shrapnel lodged in the right side of my stomach, as a souvenir from those days.
