- Ex-Olympian Sugath to enter the House
A few former sports stars who contested last Thursday’s (14) Parliamentary Election from several political parties or coalitions in their endeavor to charter a new journey in the local political sphere, have been shunned by the voters, a close perusal of the election results shows.
Most prominent of the ex-sports personalities to have been spurned by the voters has been former Sri Lanka cricket captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, who ran under the ticket of the newly formed party United Democratic Voice (UDV).
The former wicket-keeper cum opening batter contested from his home-town of Kalutara District and he had failed to garner a sufficient number of preference votes to enter the House, while his party had only polled 7090 votes from the said district.
Dilshan who played 80 Tests, 330 ODIs and 80 T20Is during his stellar career, had even reportedly renounced his Australian citizenship ahead of linking with the Ranjan Ramanayake-led party for the General Election.
But, sports analysts said evidently the voters in the Kalutara District have not warmed up to his rhetoric to kick off a potential career in politics.
Two other former sports personalities namely ex-State Minister Shantha Bandara and Anil Weerasinghe had also suffered a similar plight at last week’s Election.
Bandara who contested from the Kurunegala District from the New Democratic Front (NDF) ticket, is a former national volleyball player, while, Weerasinghe who ran for the Puttalam District from the SLPP, is a former 100m sprinter at national level, besides being a one-time Deputy President of Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA).
In the meantime, another star sprinter who retired from the track recently Shehan Ambepitiya had also envisioned hopes of entering the Legislature from the newly formed Sarvajana Balaya political party via its National List.
But, informed sources from the party added that his chances could also be dashed, due to the party only securing a solitary National List following last week’s Election.
Of all the former sports stars, who had vied for a spot to enter Parliament the only successful candidate is ex-Sri Lanka athlete and former President of SLA Sugath Thillakaratne.
The 51-year-old former Olympian and 400 meters runner and one time poster boy of the local athletic sphere, was included in the National List of the NPP, which swept to power in a landslide victory at last Thursday’s Parliamentary General Election.