Asangra Seneviratne of rugby fame created a huge upset emerging a dark horse winner defeatinrig the two front running favourites Jaswar Umar and Sheirantha Peiris to getting elected the new President of the Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka at yesterday’s hustings at Olympic House.
Seneviratne, who contested from the Baseball Association of Sri Lanka which he heads, defeated top favourite Umar by 16 votes to 11 while Peiris got just 2 votes.
His victory underscored the genial Seneviratne’s immense popularity for his acumen as an astute administrator.
It was a resounding victory for the rugby administrator turned Olympic top administrator, the high point being that he was virtually not given a chance by the local media with his name rarely mentioned in the run up to the high stakes election.