Among thousands of young athletes who fought against bad weather and soggy ground conditions, she was the cynosure of all eyes as she dominated the sprint events on an unhelpful grass track. Neither the wet grounds nor rain could hold this young sprinter, who beat all odds to win the Best Athlete title at the three-day Sir John Tarbert Junior Athletic Championship which concluded at Sir Albert F. Peiris Ground, Wennappuwa, last Sunday (21).

She was outstanding from day one. From the time she ran her first heat on Friday (June 19), she had reserved a place in the list of best athletes.

Many believe Nirma Sandaratne, born in the month of March, has the ability to write her name against some junior national records soon and become a force to be reckoned in the local athletic arena.

In fact, she has proved her prowess beating her counterparts in her age category by a huge margin on more than one occasion. In the 14-year-old Sandaratne, there is a characteristic of a youngster who is persevering a career in athletics, and it seems she is all but set to take the junior circuit by storm one day.

"My immediate aim is to try and break the 200 and 100m records of my age category," Sandaratne told ‘Sunday Island - Sportstar’ after her participation at the Wennappuwa meet.

An athlete of Lyceum International School, Wattala, Sandaratne incidentally won her second consecutive Best Athlete title following her first title at the Inter-international Schools Athletic Championships recently.

Sandaratne ran a personal best of 25.9 secs. in the girls’ 200m in the Inter-international Schools Athletic Championships at the Sugathadasa Stadium. And on Sunday, she produced timing of 26.3 secs. in the 200m on an unhelpful grass track. Even before the first athlete trudged the grass track at Wennappuwa, the Best Athlete title was up for her to grab as she had already made her mark early on in the synthetic track. But her major concern seemed to have been breaking the Junior John Tarbert record.

"I had an injury. That held me back from going to the record," Sandaratne said after her event.

Sandaratne won the gold in 200m with a timing of 26.3 secs. and in 100m in 12.7 secs. beating to second place S.V. Wickramaratne, who was from the athletic stronghold of St. Joseph’s Balika.

At the Junior Nationals held prior to the John Tarbert meet, Sandaratne won one silver (200m with 26.79) behind S.K. Ratnayake of St. Joseph’s Balika and won the Gold in the 100m with a timing of 13.2 secs.

Her performances in both those events rate her above the Sri Lanka Athletic Association set Grade-II standard which only two junior athletes have so far achieved this year.

She said that her parents and the coach have been behind her success.

"I get the much needed support from the coach and from my parents," she said.

The athlete is coached by Oliver Fernando and her talent had been first identified by Ananda Athukorala at an inter-house sports meet at Lyceum.

Sandaratne first showed her prowess at the zonal level at her tender ages, especially in year 2005 where she won the silver medals in 50m and 80m.

She was second in 200m and third in the 100m of her age group in the Western Province Schools Athletic Championship in 2008 and in the recently held all-island schools meet, she was second in the 200m despite she being in her first year in that Under-15 category.

She won the Best Athlete title in the IISAC clocking an outstanding 25.09 secs. in the girls’ 200m which is by far the best performance in her age group in any meet in Sri Lanka this year.