තරග දිනූ හෙල්ල කඩා දැමුවාදැයි සැකයක් - තුර්කි ගුවන් සේව‍යට එරෙහිව රුමේෂ් පැමිණිලි කරයි

Sri Lankan athlete Rumesh Tharanga, who won the men's javelin throw championship at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship held in Budapest, Hungary, arrived in the island this morning (15), but left Katunayake Airport with great sadness due to the damage caused to all his competitive javelins during the flight. His parents, relatives, and senior officials from the Ministry of Sports and the Sri Lanka Air Force had gathered at Katunayake Airport to welcome him, who arrived in the island at 5:10 AM on flight TK-730 belonging to Turkish Airlines, which came from Istanbul, Turkey.

Rumesh Tharanga stated that he usually returns to the country with great joy after a victory, but this time he was deeply saddened because all five of his personal javelins used for the tournament were destroyed during the flight. Among the damaged equipment were the javelin with which he won the championship with a record throw of 91.09 meters in Budapest, as well as the javelin that recorded a distance of 92.07 meters at the Diamond League final in Zurich, Switzerland. He also took steps to file an official complaint against the relevant airline at Katunayake Airport regarding this unfortunate incident.

He had planned to use these specific javelins for the upcoming Asian Championship, the 2027 World Championship, and the 2028 Olympic Games, and to keep them safely as mementos after his retirement from sports. According to recent estimates, the loss from this destruction is approximately 2 million LKR (20 lakhs). Some opinions have been expressed, raising suspicion as to whether this was done by a sabotage force operating against Rumesh Tharanga. He had previously traveled with javelins on this airline, but such an incident had never occurred before. Rumesh Tharanga's mother also spoke about this with suspicion and fear.

Rumesh's mother, commenting on the incident, stated that after an extremely difficult period, spring had now arrived for their family. She said that there was immense joy, beyond words, about her child achieving all the expected victories for the country in sequence, but that joy was overshadowed by this sad incident heard this morning. Therefore, she further requested the authorities to provide full protection for her child on his journey towards the Olympic Games.