Shehan Ambepitiya: Three Golds at Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune creating high hopes for the future.

For the athletic fraternity who were dismayed by the retirement of veteran sprinters Damayanthi Darsha, Shriyani Kulawansa and Sugath Thilakaratne and the imminent retirement of Olympic medal winner Susanthilka Jayasinghe, there is a ray of hope as Shehan Ambepitiya has proved his potential as the country’s most prospective medal winning athlete for the future.

Even before the ripples subsided, when he made at the recent World Youth Athletic Championships finishing seventh in the 100-meter finals, Ambepitiya is making bigger waves once again.

Completing a hat-trick of Gold medals with three games records at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India, on Thursday (16), Ambepitiya became the only Sri Lankan athlete in the history to achieve such an amazing feat.

He has been outstanding from the time he set foot on the athletic track as a raw talent from President’s College, Rajagiriya.

"First we didn’t like him engaging in sports too much. But when we saw him winning one championship after the other, his father and I decided to encourage him for sports," said Shriyani Pushpalatha, mother of Shehan, when ‘Sunday Island – Sportstar’ met her at her residence at Battaramulla.

After winning the best athlete’s title in an Under-13 inter-house athletic meet at President’s College, he has been unstoppable. Coached first by Nalin Witharana in his junior years, Ambepitiya started to impress in the local track events.

Winning medals in John Tarbet Athletic Championships, All-Island Schools Athletic Championships and other district, provincial and open championships, Ambepitiya earned the recognition of top athletic coaches here.

After coming under the supervision of prominent athletic coach Sunil Gunawardena, Ambepitiya started to improve dramatically. The athlete, who was clocking 11 seconds plus in 2006, started to improve his timing.

And when the curtain comes down on the third edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games in India, Ambepitiya will have reached new heights. He produced his personal best in each of his individual events in the Games. His personal bests of 10.43 seconds and 21.27 seconds in 100 and 200 meters were new games records and were warnings to the entire South Asian region and the other commonwealth nations that he would be a man to beat in the senior version of the games in few years’ time.

Incidentally, the 18-year-old is the current Sri Lanka champion and would be the first choice when the country is selecting a team for an international senior event. Anchoring the 4x100-meter relay, Ambepitiya played a big part in winning the country another gold. The other members of the Sri Lankan 4x100-meter relay team were: Roshan Chamara Silva, Ranil Jayawardena and Keith de Mel. They established a new games record clocking an impressive 40.90 seconds.

From the time this school going athlete, (currently Gateway College, Rajagiriya), turned tables on South Asian 100-meter Champion Umanga Surendra at a trial held at the Sugathadas Stadium, he has been making headlines.

On Tuesday, Ambepitiya lowered his personal best in the 100 meters twice on his way to win the country’s first Gold medal in Athletics at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

When Ambepitiya was winning Golds in Pune, his mother, who is slowly recovering from a kidney surgery was praying at her residence. "I was praying for my son. And I knew that he could make it. Whenever he phoned me up, he asked for my blessings and I gave it in abundance," said Ambepitiya’s mother Shriyani who is waiting to celebrate her 52nd birthday on her son’s return.

"My daughter wanted to make a birthday cake for my birthday. But I asked her to wait till his arrival. Now he has won three medals and it would be an ideal occasion to celebrate both things together," said Shriyani who turned 52 last Wednesday.

Although Ambepitiya has won many an accolade, he continues to live a simple life and his family resembles a portrait of a true Lankan athlete’s family burdened with debts. Ambepitiya’s father is a grocery owner but his earnings are hardly enough to cover the costs of his mother’s high medical bills after her kidney transplant operation.