Coach Nishantha played a big role in SL’s success in Tokyo

“As coach, I had full confidence about these two athletes well in advance after both javelin throwers received direct qualification for the Games,” he stressed.

“Both these athletes had a good commitment towards the sport and their dedication was very high backed up by some good discipline,” he noted.

“We continued our regular training sessions even during the COVID-19 pandemic and both athletes really kept their focus on the Tokyo Games,” Nishantha elaborated.

Meanwhile, President National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Sri Lanka Lt. Colonel Deepal Herath said Sri Lanka’s success at the Tokyo Para Games was due to some hard real work from the coaching staff.

“We highly appreciate Nishantha’s talent as a coach. Local athletes always prefer to get foreign coaches but we never tried to get overseas coaches.”

“My personal view is that coaches and athletes coordination is more important to obtain success and Nishantha was able to build up a good relationship with the athletes.”

“If we wanted to get foreign training for the para athletes, we should give that chance not only to the athlete but also to the coaches.”

“The coach also has to be educated and receive the modern technology like the para athletes,” Herath added.