Summa’s not so popular athletics records 

 By Reemus Fernando  

Royal College legend Summa Nawaratnam who passed away at the age of 98 was once Asia’s fastest man. A former national champion in the 100 metres, 100 yards and the 220 yards, Nawaratnam held the national record of the 100 metre from 1951 to 1959.

“Though there was no official document of the athletics meet held in Madras, there were newspaper articles and other documents to prove that Nawaratnam had clocked a blistering time of 10.4 seconds in the 100 metres in 1953,” the former statistician and the incumbent secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics, Saman Kumara Gunawardena told The Island.

Nawaratnam was representing the Ace Athletics Club when he achieved the feat in India.

Nawaratnam is only one of the three Sri Lankans alongside R.A. Kitto and current record holder Yupun Abeykoon to have been considered the fastest in Asia based on the best performances of a season.

The 10.4 seconds feat however was not regarded as the national record as performances achieved overseas were not considered eligible until 2002.

In 1951, Nawaratnam clocked 11.0 seconds in the 100 metres to equal Oscar Wijesinghe’s 1949 national record. Later two others, K.L.F. WIjedasa (1955) and S.B. Miyandeniya (1956) equaled the record. The 11.0 seconds record was erased only in 1959.

Nawaratnam was the national champion in the 100 yards in 1944, 1946 and 1947 and clinched the 100 metres title at the National Championships in 1951.

Though he had won several medals at Indo-Sri Lanka dual meets, athletics statisticians consider his 4th place finish in the 4×100 metres at the 1950 Auckland Commonwealth Games as his best performance. Nawaratnam joined fellow Royalist John de Saram, Duncan White and Oscar Wijesinghe to finish fourth in the relay. It is the highest achievement by a Sri Lankan relay team at the fiercely competed quadrennial games to date.