Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
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Randev Athukorala
Sri Lanka Schools Under-19 Black Belt Karate Champion and twice a South Asian medallion ranked 11th by World Karate Federation Randev Athukorala was awarded Sri Lanka Schools Colours by the Ministry of Education and Sri Lanka University Colours for the year 2023.
A 5th year Coloursman in Karate at St. Peter’s College and ‘Most Outstanding Sportsman’, he went on to win the ‘ Best All-round Student’ in his final year at college.
Young Athukorala went on to earn 4 A’s at the Advanced Level Examination of the Ministry of Education and secured entrance to the University of Sri Jayewardene. His passion for Karate began at a tender age of five years under the Coach Sensei D.M.D. Nimal who said, “Randev has been living the values of karate since his small ages. He had his fair share of failures which has made him a competitive sportsman assisted by Coach Safraz.
Having captained the Sri Lanka Schools Karate Team, Randev went under the wing of the Sri Lanka National Coach Sensei Kalyana who brought out the best of him, said the St. Peter’s Head Master Noel Cooray. Randev went on to win the Gold Medal at the South Asian Karate Championships in New Delhi, India and also the World Championships in Teheran, Iran. “The lesson other sportsmen must emulate from Randev is how he balanced sports, studies, extracurricular activities, and being a Senior Prefect,” said the St. Peters College Rector Rev. Fr. Rohitha Rodrigo.
The World Karate Association Rankings listed him at number 17 in the world in the Cadet 70 kg+ weight class in 2017, and he went on to achieve a personal best of 11th in the global ranking. In the Asian region, young Athukorala was ranked second behind Indonesian athlete Billy Bilmona Mohammad Besnuh, while Chinese Karateka Yunlong Hu finished third behind the Sri Lankan that year. There are only three athletes from Asia who have broken into the world top 30 rankings, said Coach Kalyana.
“I was diagnosed with dengue just 41 days before the South Asian Karate Championships in New Delhi, India but I wanted to fight for Sri Lanka and was happy to win the Gold,” said Randev. When the pandemic hit Sri Lanka we lost the best years of my life in the world of sports but I focused strongly on studies. It was very motivating when I received 4 A’s and qualified to enter university. My next challenge is to win a medal at the World Inter University Games. But first the world must see Sri Lanka out of the current economic challenge,” added Randev.
