Pradeep Sanjaya is considered as the greatest Paralympian in the Sri Lankan history. He has gifted mother Sri Lanka a bronze medal at 2012 London Paralympic Games. He came third in the 400 m T46 class athletic event recording a time of 49.29 seconds. It was Sri Lanka’s first ever medal in paralympics and a golden step in the history of Sri Lankan sports.

Sri Lanka made it’s Paralympic games debut at the summer 1996 paralympics in Atlanta with a single athlete in track and field.

Pradeep’s achievement was read as a new Regional record, and it is the resultant of a long journey of dedication which made mother Sri Lanka shine with pride. Pradeep completed his qualifying heat on 4th of September 2012, with a timing of 49.82 seconds bringing a ray of hope.  He is currently the world’s fifth ranked player in arm paralysis, T46 in the 400m and while he also competes in 200m.

He joined Sri Lanka army as a Lance Corporal of the Singhe Regiment in 2008 and was a brave attacker in the war front in army’s battles against terrorism. Unfortunately he was attacked by a mortar in the latter part of 2008 and his left elbow was permanently injured. He  began to train for 400m and 200m disciplines after leaving the army, with the hope of succeeding as a sportsman.  His unbeatable sacrifice was the mere secret behind the transformation of this war hero to a sports hero.

Pradeep was successful in challenging his own destiny and emerged as a gifted sportsman. Today he has become  a great personality and a great paralympian who proved the power of the differently able people.

image courtesy :https://www.colombotelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Pradeep-Sanjaya-para-1olympic1.jpg