Sri Lankan sports journalist Nisman Ranasinghe launched his book titled ‘Ran Kandula’ at the National Library auditorium last afternoon (21).
The book is written, mainly based on the incidents and behaviour of media following the strip-off of celebrated Sri Lankan pugilist Manju Wanniarachchi’s Gold medal at Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Mr. Nisman Ranasinghe, fondly known as ‘Nismanaiya’ among local athletes, fellow journalists and officials, is renowned for his unbiased style of reporting and criticizing any party, despite their position in the society.
Interestingly, Mr. Ranasinghe had made arrangements to invite and present the book to Mr. Dian Gomes, who had been highly criticized by Ranasinghe itself, at several times.
Mr.Ranasinghe shares his views, about the journey Sri Lanka’s celebrated boxer: Manju Wanniarachchi took in reaching the Gold medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and the chain of incidents, which then took place and led to the event where Manju Wanniarachchi was ordered to return the gold medal back to the Sri Lankan Olympic Committee.
Mr. Ranasinghe, in his book, has also included the bitter experiences other local athletes undergo, even when seeking medical assistance from the local authorities.
Veteran sports journalist Mr. RanjanParanavithanadelivering his speech about the responsibility of the Sri Lankan Sports Journalist highlighted, “Sri Lanka government’s luckiest ministers are appointed to the sports ministry. No other ministry receives an exclusive page to discuss about their subject area, in daily and weekly newspapers, along with the sports news segments at electronic media stations”.
He also stressed that it is the responsibility of the sports journalists to support and back athletes whenever they are ill-treated.
Mr. Dian Gomes, who graced the occasion to receive the “Ran Kandula” from its author, stated that Nisman is an honest journalist who always wrote and reported the truth. “I got to know Nisman when he started to publish reports criticizing me when he was working at Ravaya newspaper. But Nisman neither published manipulated news reports nor criticized anyone on baseless claims”
“Nisman was a great motivator to all the athletes. He knew the strengths and weaknesses of all the athletes”, Gomes said.
Addressing the media personnel, the author Ranasinghe recalled that he was well aware of the fact that, athletes practice more than 100 times of the time they spend in displaying their talent in a tournament. “They also make a lot of sacrifices. Therefore, if the sports Journalist’s duty is projected towards the betterment of the sport/s he or she should respect the sacrifices made by sports personnel. And that’s how I was moved into writing such a book about Manju”, he noted.
One notable absentee for the event was Mr. Hemasiri Fernando, the President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), through whom Manju was ordered to return the gold medal. When this writer inquired about Mr. Fernando’s absence at the event, Mr. Nisman Ranasinghe said that all the NOC officials were busy and packed up with work ahead of South Asian beach games. He also said that Mr. Fernando had personally contacted him to inform his inability to be present at the event.
When asked as to how the general public could purchase the book, Mr. Nisman mentioned that the book has not yet been distributed to bookshops.
However, ThePapare.com readers can contact Mr. NismanRanasinghe on his mobile (0773 81 59 99) to learn more about “Ran Kandula”.
