Kuruppu A. KARUNARATNE

Kuruppu Karunaratne made his first international appearance when placing 4th at 10000 m in the Asian Championship 1985. After that he continued coming 4th on the Asian circuit: Marathon in Asian Games 1990, 10000 m in Asian Championships 1991 and again in Asian Championships 1993. After his Olympic participation 1992, he also competed in the marathon World Championships 1993, placing 40th. He won the South Asian Federation Games marathon in 1991 and 1993, and ran his all-time-best in the London marathon 1991, clocking 2-17:45.

On April 6th, 2008, a marathon race organized outside Colombo in connection with Tamil and Sinhala New Year celebrations turned into blood-shed when a suicide bomber exploded himself and killed several people at the start of the race, among them Karunaratne and the Sri Lankan national track and field coach Lakshman de Alwis.

Personal Bests: 5000 – 14:16.8 (1993); 10000 – 30:09.92 (1991); Mar – 2-17:45 (1991).