Twins, Eranda Nadeera Dias Gunasekara and Eranga Nadeera Dias Gunasekara, once again proved their calibre in gymnastics, the younger claiming the title and the older clinching the runner-up medal at the National Gymnastic Championship held at the Sugathadasa Stadium last Sunday. While the twins got hold of the individual Championship and Runner-up positions, their club, the Friendship Gymnastic Club, bagged almost all the gold medals in the men’s events to be eligible to represent Sri Lanka in the two forthcoming championships to be held in India and Germany shortly.

The National Championship was to have been held in December last year, but was postponed to February this year following the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster.

In the currently concluded competition, Eranda edged out older brother in three events to clinch gold, but lost gold in Pommel Horse event to older brother. Eranda in his winning drive secured three golds, one silver and a bronze medal. It was a tussle between Gunasekara twins in most events. Eranda clinched the gold in the Floor Exercise event and Edanga won the silver. In the Parallel Bars, too, Eranda and Eranga won gold and silver respectively. The third gold for Eranda came in the Horizontal Bar, while older brother had to be content with the bronze. Eranda secured a silver also in the Rings Event.

Eranga, the older of the two, frequently shone in many a gymnastic competition, but last Sunday was not his day. He had to be satisfied with a second place position in the Championship earning one gold, three silvers and two bronzes. He won gold in Pommel Horse event, three silvers in Floor Exercise, Vaulting Table and Parallel Bars and the two bronzes in the Rings and Horisontal Bar events.

While the twins clinched the championship and first runner-up’s awards, Prasad Sameera Ekanayake won the second runner-up award. The twins are members of the Freedom Gymnastic Club, which is a formidable force in the gymnastic field locally as they took home the highest number of medals by an individual club. Like the twins, most members of the Freedom Gymnastic Club are alumni of Ananda College, Colombo.

"In an era when gymnastics doesn’t get the due recognition it deserves, Ananda College has provided us with a modern training facility, which is the need of the hour. Since we have the access to the Ananda College gym, we are able to get adequate training to meet modern day competitive gymnastic needs", said Eranda speaking to ‘The Island’.

The Championship provided a timely selection ground of sorts for the forthcoming Central Asian Gymnastic Championship to be held shortly in India and the 29th Turnier der Meister Championship in Germany. Incidentally, the Freedom Gymnastic Club was selected to represent Sri Lanka at both forthcoming international tournaments.