COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, September 10 (ePRESS) – Fifteen-year-old gymnast Nuyara Fernando of Lyceum International School, Nugegoda, has turned a new page in Sri Lanka’s sporting history by breaking into Asia’s top 24 at the Senior and Junior Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championship held in South Korea.
Competing against the continent’s best, Fernando finished 24th overall with an all-around score of 42.699 points – the highest mark ever achieved by a Sri Lankan female gymnast at this stage.
In a sport where balance, flexibility, and courage decide everything, Fernando showed that she has the “spring on the vault” and the “nerve on the beam” to shine beyond borders. She outperformed three Indian gymnasts – a rare achievement against South Asia’s gymnastics powerhouse – and placed herself among Asia’s emerging prospects.
Her result is even more striking as it nears the performance of Sri Lanka’s first female Olympian, Milka Gehani de Silva, at the Asian Championships. Like Gehani, Fernando is also guided by national coach Ranjana Tharanga, the architect of Sri Lanka’s gymnastics dreams.
Fernando’s rise did not come overnight. From local school meets, Western Province Championships, and the National Sports Festival, she kept tumbling forward with grit and grace. At just 15, she became the youngest national champion in 2024, sweeping all six gold medals across every event – vault, uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, all-around, and team.
“Step by step, meet by meet, she kept sticking her landings,” said an official close to her training.
At the recent Asian Championship, Fernando scored: 12.233 on vault
Steady marks across uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise
Total: 42.699 points, placing her 24th in Asia
Her difficulty scores on beam and floor already cross the 14 mark, showing technical maturity well beyond her age. These numbers echo the early path of Milka Gehani, who began her Olympic journey with similar scores under the same coach.
Fernando has already earned qualification to represent Sri Lanka at the 53rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championship in Jakarta this October 2025. That stage will be her next “vault into the unknown,” testing herself against the world’s very best.
Beyond Jakarta, her long-term goal is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. For Sri Lanka, a nation that once looked at gymnastics as a distant dream, Fernando’s progress is like “swinging into a new routine” with confidence.
Coach Ranjana Tharanga believes in structured, Olympic-focused training. His pathway produced Gehani, and now Fernando has stepped firmly onto that same track. If nurtured carefully, she could become the “floor leader” of Sri Lanka’s next generation.
Her achievements show that the country’s gymnastics is no longer just “hanging by a thread” but balancing with purpose on the world level.
At 15, Nuyara Fernando has already flipped the script for Sri Lanka’s gymnastics. From the national podium to Asia’s top 24, she has shown that with determination, discipline, and the right guidance, Sri Lanka can dream not only of participation but of podium finishes.
For now, the nation watches as its youngest star bends, twists, and vaults her way toward Jakarta – and perhaps, one day, Los Angeles.
