Sugath Thilakaratne

Thilakaratne was born on 30 July 1973 in Norton Bridge, Nuwara Eliya. His mother was M. G. R. Lisinona and his father was R. A. Appuhamy. Thilakaratne has three brothers: R. A. Ariyachandra, R. M. Wickremaweera, R. A. Nihal Jayaratne, Sugath Thilakaratne and one sister: Suneetha Chandrakanthi. He entered Vidulipura Maha Vidyalaya for his education in 1979 and started athletics at very little age. He is married to former athlete Dulani Chaturika where the wedding was celebrated on 8 September 2003. The couple has one daughter, Thevini Dinara and one son, Dehan Akanath. ==Career==

He started to practice under the coaches, Jayalath Senake Premawansa and Padmawathi, where he contested in 50 metres, 75 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres during school life. After seeing his talents, Anura Bandara, then Ambagamuwa Maha Vidyalaya coach, advised him to participate in the 400 metres. In 2000, he contested in Sydney Olympics. His best performance in a major global competition was in the 2001 World Championships where he reached the semi-final. In 2002 Commonwealth Games, he won the second place by recording a time of 46.80 seconds in the 3rd preliminary round. Then in the 4th heat of the semi-finals, he recorded a time of 46.48 seconds and qualified for the semi-finals. But in the 2nd semi-final, he finished in 6th place with a time of 45.79 seconds and did not qualify for the final. At the 2002 Asian Athletics Championships, Thilakaratne won the bronze medal by finishing in 45.73 seconds. ==Post-retirement==

After his retirement in 2008, He was appointed to the post on 14 May 2015. In 2019, he worked in the Petroleum Corporation. Thilakaratne was listed in the National List of the National People's Power in the 2024 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. He was successfully appointed to parliament and named as the Deputy Minister of Sports in President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's cabinet. Thilakaratne is the first Olympic athlete to enter the Sri Lankan parliament. ==Achievements==