Former Sri Lanka Olympian sprinter Ranga Wimalawansa was remanded over a fraud of Rs.700.000 on Friday by the Colombo High Court.
Wimalawansa on a previous occasion was sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment for defrauding Rs.1.6 million by swindling employment seekers for jobs in Italy.
He was one of the best 400 metre runners in Sri Lanka and shaped his athletics career after enrolling at St. Peter’s College from a village school in Kalutara before rising to international stardom that culminated at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
As a schoolboy he was part of Sri Lanka’s team that went on to win the Bronze medal in the 400m relay race at the Asian Athletics Championship in Japan in 1998.
Two years later he bagged his biggest and best prize which was a Gold medal in the 400m relay at the prestigious Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2000.
Wimalawansa quit the track after an illustrious career and in 2007 dedicated his life to coaching young runners before deciding to try his hand at business that eventually got him into trouble with the law.
Lured by the prospects of big money having earned just a pittance as a sportsman, Wimalawansa fell foul with the law and ruined what was left of his reputation that landed him in his present situation.
He will languish in a cell until his present case is taken up on December 27.
