Damayanthi Dharsha

Deshabandu
Damayanthi Dharsha
Personal information
Native nameදමයන්ති දර්ශා
Full nameDamayanthi Dharsha-Kobalavithanage
NationalitySri Lankan
Born (1975-02-13) February 13, 1975 (age 49)
Panadura, Sri Lanka
Sport
CountrySri Lanka
SportTrack and field
EventSprint
Retired2007
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)200 m: 22.48[1] (Bangkok 1998)
400 m: 51.05 (Jakarta 2000)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Sri Lanka
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Asian Games 3 0 1
Asian Championships 4 1 0
Total 7 1 1
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
200 m 3 1 1
400 m 4 0 0
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Fukuoka 400 m
Gold medal – first place 1998 Bangkok 200 m
Gold medal – first place 2002 Busan 400 m
Bronze medal – third place 1994 Hiroshima 200 m
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Bangkok 400 m
Gold medal – first place 2000 Jakarta 200 m
Gold medal – first place 2000 Jakarta 400 m
Gold medal – first place 2000 Jakarta 4×100 m
Gold medal – first place 2005 Busan 200 m
Silver medal – second place 1993 Manila 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Colombo 4×400 m
Updated on 10 November 2015

Deshabandu Kobala Vithanage Damayanthi Dharsha-Kobalavithanage (born 13 February 1975) is a retired Sri Lankan athlete who competed in the 200 and 400 metres race events.[2][3] She is the current Asian Games record holder in women's 200m event and current Asian Athletics Championships record holder in women's 400m event as well as national record holder in women's 400m. She is regarded as one of the greatest track and field athletes to have represented Sri Lanka at international level alongside her teammate Susanthika Jayasinghe.[4][5] She is also regarded as the most successful Sri Lankan athlete at the Asian Games with a medal haul of four medals including three gold medals and became the first Sri Lankan female athlete to clinch three Asian Games gold medals.[6] She represented Sri Lanka at the Olympics on three occasions in 1992, 2000 and 2004.[7] She also represented Sri Lanka at the Commonwealth Games on four occasions in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006 as well as at the South Asian Games on four occasions.

She now has migrated and lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Biography

Dharsha was born on 13 February 1975 in Panadura. However, she along with her family moved to her father's hometown in Ampara at her young age.[8] She pursued her primary education at the Ampara Bandaranaike Maha Vidyalaya for a brief period of time. She along with her family returned to Panadura mainly due to the threat of LTTE which emerged in 1983 and she initially attended St. John's College for one year before transferring to Panadura Balika Maha Vidyalaya. She started competing in track and field events since the age of 13 in 1988 after joining the Panadura Balika Maha Vidyalaya. She was coached by former Sri Lankan Olympian Sunil Gunawardene. She also obtained scholarship to join the Ladies' College, Colombo in 1991 due to her success in athletics at the school level competitions. She married Eranda Siriwardane in 2003 and has three children.[9]

Career

She gained her first international experience at the 1991 Malaysian Open. She made an initial impact at just 16 years when she won the 100 metres gold medal at the 1991 South Asian Games in Colombo with a new record. She broke into the limelight by winning the 100 metre gold at the Asian Junior Championships in the same year. She also eventually won the national titles in both women's 100m and 200m events at the 1991 National Athletics Championships.

She was chosen to represent Sri Lanka as a first-choice athlete at the 1992 Summer Olympics at the age of 17 and became the youngest Sri Lankan to compete at the Olympics.[10] She also became the first Sri Lankan schoolgirl to participate in the Olympics.[8] The 1992 Barcelona Olympics also marked her maiden Olympic appearance and she competed in the women's 100m and 200m events. Following the 1992 Olympics, she participated in an invitational athletics meet in Malaysia and secured gold medals in 100m and 200m events in the competition. In the same year, she received the Duncan White Trophy.

In 1993, she attended a special training session in Australia. She claimed her first international medal during the 1993 Asian Athletics Championships securing a silver medal in the 200m event with a timing of 23.29 seconds. She claimed gold medal in the 100m event at the 1994 Asian Junior Athletics Championships and set a new Asian Junior Championships record in the women's 100m event with a timing of 11.42 seconds. During the same Asian Junior Championships, she claimed silver medal in the women's 200m event and finished just behind Susanthika Jayasinghe.

She won the bronze medal in the 200 metres behind Chinese Taipei's Wang Huei-Chen and teammate Susanthika Jayasinghe at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.[11] That was the beginning of a dominant period for Sri Lanka in women's sprinting with Jayasinghe and Darsha seriously challenging the Chinese.[12]

She had a remarkable run in 1998 claiming three gold medals at the Asian regional competitions. She claimed her first gold medal in her career in the women's 400m event at the 1998 Asian Athletics Championships and followed it up with gold medals in women's 200m and 400m events at the 1998 Asian Games.[13] At the 1998 Asian Games, she also set Asian Games record in women's 200m with a new record of 22.48 seconds.[14][15][16]

She made her second appearance at the Olympics in her athletic career in 2000 after failing to qualify for the 1996 Olympics. She was also the flag bearer for Sri Lanka during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics at the age of 25. She also held the record for being the youngest ever Sri Lankan flag bearer at the Olympics until it was surpassed by Milka Gehani at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[17] She defended her 400m title at the 2000 Asian Athletics Championships with a new Asian Championship record of 51.05 seconds and also claimed gold medal in the 200m event during the Asian Championships in the same year. She also successfully defended her 400m gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. She claimed bronze medal in the women's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2002 Asian Athletics Championships. In addition, she also joined the MAS Holdings in 2003 as a senior HR executive.

She made her third and final Olympic appearance at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Her last international appearance for Sri Lanka came during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In July 2007, Dharsha announced her retirement from athletics.[18]

She represented Sri Lanka along with former veteran cricketer Mahela Jayawardene in a ten-team celebrity street cricket game during the opening ceremony of the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[19][20]

In 2021, she contested in the elections for the post of Vice President of Sri Lanka Athletics Association and was elected as the Vice President of Sri Lanka Athletics Association.[21] She also became the first female Vice President of SLA and was appointed as the head of the women's sub committee of Technical Officials and Media.[22][23]

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Sri Lanka
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 38th (h) 100 m 11.88
29th (qf) 200 m 23.89
1993 Asian Championships Manila, Philippines 2nd 200 m 23.29
1994 Asian Games Hiroshima, Japan 3rd 200 m 23.61
1995 World Championships Edmonton, Canada 38th (h) 100 m 11.65
28th (qf) 200 m 23.45
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 22nd (qf) 400 m 53.49
1998 Asian Championships Fukuoka, Japan 1st 400 m 51.23
Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4th 400 m 51.06
Asian Games Bangkok, Thailand 1st 200 m 22.48
1st 400 m 51.57
6th 4 × 400 m relay 3:40.05
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 37th (h) 200 m 23.57
31st (qf) 200 m 53.33
2000 Asian Championships Jakarta, Indonesia 1st 200 m 22.84
1st 400 m 51.05
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 23rd (qf) 400 m 52.35
2001 World Indoor Championships Lisbon, Portugal 12th (sf) 200 m 24.00
– 400 m DNF
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 10th (sf) 200 m 22.88
19th (sf) 400 m 51.83
8th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 43.89
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, United Kingdom 14th (sf) 200 m 24.18
22nd (sf) 400 m 53.91
6th (f) 4 × 100 m relay 44.25
Asian Championships Colombo, Sri Lanka 3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:42.71
Asian Games Busan, South Korea 1st 400 m 51.13
2003 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 24th (h) 400 m 54.61
Asian Championships Manila, Philippines 3rd (h) 200 m 24.13[24]
2004 Olympic Games Athens, Greece 38th (h) 400 m 54.58
2005 Asian Championships Incheon, South Korea 1st 200 m 23.21
2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 16th (sf) 200 m 24.22

References

  1. ^ "Personal Best". International Association of Athletics. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  2. ^ "K.V.Damayanthi DARSHA". Olympics.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  3. ^ "Athletics - Damayanthi Dharsha (Sri Lanka)". www.the-sports.org. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  4. ^ Ranasinghe, Dinushki (2020-05-08). "A message from Damayanthi Darsha on COVID-19". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  5. ^ "A depleted Lankan contingent on the track". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  6. ^ "Asian Games Medal winners". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  7. ^ "ක්‍රීඩා ප්‍රතිරූ - ආසියාවේ කළු වෙළඹ දමයන්ති දර්ශා". ThePapare.com. 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  8. ^ a b "Darsha: First Sri Lankan schoolgirl to take part in the Olympics". Sri Lanka Athletics News & information Portals. 2019-01-08. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  9. ^ Rodrigopulle, Elmo. "Flying Princess DAMAYANTHI DARSHA". Daily News. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  10. ^ "Damayanthi Darsha - the youngest Lankan athlete to take part in Olympics". Daily News. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  11. ^ "Sunday Musings -When to pick up the shining pebble". www.sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  12. ^ "Run Dharsha, run". Himal Southasian. 1999-01-31. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  13. ^ "In South Asia high income does not mean more medals | More sports News - Times of India". The Times of India. September 10, 2018. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  14. ^ "Asian Games 2018: Meet the record-holders in athletics". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  15. ^ Mehrish, Akshat (2018-08-17). "Asian Games 2018: All the Games Records in Athletics". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  16. ^ "Online edition of Daily News - Sports". archives.dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  17. ^ Seneviratne, Akhila (2021-07-12). "Sri Lankan Flag Bearers at the Olympics: Carrying more than just a flag". ThePapare.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  18. ^ "The Hindu Sportstar Weekly, July 7, 2007: "Darsha calls it a day"". Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
  19. ^ "Cricket World Cup 2019, Opening Ceremony Highlights". India Today. 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  20. ^ "Damayanthi Darsha of Sri Lanka bats during the ICC Cricket World Cup..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  21. ^ "Damayanthi Dharsha contests VP post at SLA". Sunday Observer. 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  22. ^ "Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka Latest Breaking News and Headlines - Print Edition Veteran athletics official G.L.S. Perera heads Technical Officials sub-committee". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  23. ^ "Olympian Darsha wins race to become a Sri Lanka Athletics vice-presidents". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  24. ^ Did not start in the final.

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