Former Sri Lankan sprinter Sugath Thilakaratne has been elected as the new President of the Sri Lanka Athletic Association (SLAA), defeating Upali Kumarasiri by a majority of 59 votes.

The election for the top post the country’s athletic governing body was held at the Auditorium of the National Institute of Sports Science (NISS) this morning.

Thilakaratne received a total of 83 votes while Kumarasiri, a retired DIG, polled only 24 votes.

Thilakaratne, the poster boy for Sri Lankan athletics in the 90s, has represented the country at numerous international events and won a number of medals including Gold at the Asian Games in his 400m event.

Thilakaratne, who has won a gold medal each from the Asian Championships held in Fukuoka, Japan and Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand in 1998 and a bronze each from the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in 1998 and the Asian Championships held in Colombo in 2002 has many international accolades to his credit besides competing at Asian level.

He has represented Sri Lanka at four IAAF World Championships, two IAAF World Cups and two Summer Olympic Games – in 1996 in Atlanta, USA and in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. One of his biggest achievements was beating star 400metre sprinter Michael Johnson in a preliminary round at the Atlanta Olympics.