Dilanka Isuru Kumara recently won the Bronze medal in the 55 kg event category of weightlifting at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Kumara lifted a total weight of 225 kg in the men’s weightlifting competition. The Gold for the event was awarded to Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan Mohamad with a record weight of 249 kg while India’s Sanket Mahadev Sargar settled for the Silver, lifting a weight of 248 kg.
Kumara’s second lift of 105 kg in the snatch and the first lift of 120 kg in the clean and jerk won him the Bronze ahead of England’s Ben Hickling, who had a total weight of 212 kg.
The Sunday Morning Brunch chatted with Kumara about his experience at the competition and his career journey, from starting as a young school athlete to representing Sri Lanka on the world stage.
Speaking about his most recent achievement, Kumara shared that apart from the gold and silver medalists, he was the only athlete to make a successful lift of over 100 kg in the snatch. However, he expressed disappointment over his total weight of 225 kg being lower than his recent performance of 238 kg at the Singapore Weightlifting International, where he won Bronze to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.
Kumara’s introduction to weightlifting
Kumara shared that as a young student he had no real idea of weightlifting as a sport. However, he recalls a moment in Grade 9 when his school’s sports teacher came to his classroom and asked if any students would like to lift weights.
“I remember the teacher coming into the class and asking if any of us would like to lift weights. Since we did not have any sports facilities in our school, we were all asked to come to the Kurunegala sports complex to train if we were interested,” he said.
Despite not knowing anything about weightlifting, Kumara had read about Chinthana Geetal Vidanage in a school textbook. He fondly recalled how he had at the time remembered the only fact he knew about weightlifting, which was that Vidanage had won the first weightlifting Gold medal for Sri Lanka at the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Australia.
This small connection he made in his head was what inspired Kumara to go to the sports complex and start training. After two years of learning the sport, he participated in his very first official competition, the Junior Nationals, where he won the third place medal.
“This was a special moment since this was when it first occurred to me that I enjoyed the sport and appeared to have some level of skill in it to pursue it further,” he said.
Kumara shared that he owed most, if not all, of his success to his coach Rukshan Gunathilake, who had been his coach and mentor since the very beginning. “Coach Gunathilake was an integral part of my success. I think the guidance I received under him has been the driving force behind much of my success.”
Entering the world stage
Kumara took part in his first international meet in 2013. However, he was unable to secure a win, coming in at fourth place. He shared that he continued to train after this experience as he understood his potential and with some encouragement from his training mates and coach, he kept at it.
Kumara however noted that there were challenges when it came to training in sports as a full-time occupation in Sri Lanka. “There are no sponsorships available for us as athletes but such support is very necessary. We are not financially able to bear the brunt of the necessities of athletes, especially when it comes to nutrition.”
As a result of these complications, like many other Sri Lankan athletes, Kumara joined the Army in 2016. He shared that he had maintained his athletic training using his personal means and his Army salary.
Even when Kumara represented Sri Lanka at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships, he did not receive any financial relief, nutrition stipends, or similar benefits. However, following his participation at the 2021 Asian Championships, he was issued a voucher for nutritional support.
The future
Kumara shared that at present, there were many young athletes training alongside him who had great potential to represent Sri Lanka on the international stage.
“It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka is unable to uplift these younger athletes. It is almost left to chance for talented individuals to truly reach their potential,” he said, adding: “State support is most important when it comes to global sports recognition.”
As for himself, Kumara’s next major objective is the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships which will be held in Colombia. “Sri Lanka is yet to win a medal at this championship. If I am able to place at this competition it will be a great honour for my country and it will be my greatest pleasure to achieve this for Sri Lanka,” he said.
Kumara shared that he was also hoping to qualify for the 2024 Olympics, where he hopes to bring glory to Sri Lanka in the weightlifting category.
