The Sportsman
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam’s life intersects with both international sport and Sri Lanka’s political history. In 1958, on the day he won the country’s first Asian Games gold medal in Tokyo, communal violence was unfolding in Colombo. Representing Ceylon at the Olympic Games in Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956), he secured his place in the island’s athletic record, even as events at home traced a different trajectory.
I first met Ethir in Jaffna in 2013. His manner was measured, his speech deliberate, his presence shaped by a lifetime of public discipline. He spoke often of “perseverance” — not as abstraction, but as practice. The word seemed to organise his account of sport, education and political involvement alike.
He remained closely identified with Jaffna Central College, whose cricket grounds now bear his name, and with a generation shaped by both athletic aspiration and escalating national fracture. International competition had brought him visibility beyond the island; that visibility later situated him in an unexpected role during the ceasefire years. He described being approached by representatives of both the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE to convey messages and facilitate contact. He did not frame this as mediation or diplomacy. It was, in his telling, an extension of trust accumulated elsewhere.
When I asked why both sides placed confidence in him, he paused briefly before answering: “Because I was a sportsman.”
In 2023, after many years abroad, he returned to Jaffna. I recorded an extended interview during a conversation conducted by Mark Salter for a forthcoming book. Listening again to his account, what stood out was not rhetoric but continuity — how athletic training, institutional affiliation and regional belonging continued to structure his understanding of responsibility.
Colombo
October 1, 2023
Transcript and translations
Language
Subjects discussed
"I knew someone important was the target"
[Walking through a cemetery, Killinochchi, northern Sri Lanka]
SON
What does it say in Tamil there?
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
(Reading)
“Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam, Kanagapuram, Kilinochchi.”
Kanagapuram is the name of the place. This is the front façade of the Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam where all the LTTE cadres who died in the war were buried here. Especially those who are near Kilinochchi and the surrounding areas. There is one in Puthukkudiyiruppu and there is one in Jaffna.
When they were buried, it had a plaque for everyone.
I remember Thuyavan, who was in the economic development sector, who used to take me around the villages to see the economic conditions of the people and advise them on agriculture and small industry development.
And Thuyavan died drowning in Neduntheevu. He was buried here. I had seen his plaque.
Then… I have also come when Tamilselvan was killed by a Kfir. I think that was piloted by Ukrainian pilots. Kfir or Mig.
I was there at the Elanthenthal Hotel and I saw that plane at 6:00 a.m. fly just above the Pillaiyar temple. And then within seconds I heard the double… big bang.
And I knew that somebody important was the target.
And what happened was they targeted Tamilselvan’s bunker and both went into the bunker. And he and his bodyguards were all killed. There were five of them.
But those who were outside were not killed. They knew that whenever Kfirs or Migs take off, an alarm is given and everybody goes to their bunkers. And that’s why they were able to target.
And he died.
And then it was a public funeral. And then he was brought to this Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam and he was then buried right in the corner… of the right-hand corner, between the two walls.
And I was there. And I also took part in the burial ceremony.
Now… yeah, I’m going to walk over there.
SON
If we can just walk over that way and have a look.
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
It says, “Walk softly. Here is buried bodies of the brave Tamil soldiers.”
Students organise themselves and come here two or three times a year to pull weeds and keep the place clean. And many people joined them during that time.
Thuyavan’s body was just past this, was buried there. So his body is still there.
The bodies were still there. They only knocked down the… all of them.
He died drowning trying to save two others who were drowning near the Neduntheevu channel. He didn’t die in the war. He was an economic development and political person.
Ah, some of them are here. Let me read their names. I don’t know…
(Reading)
Lieutenant Tharaneer. Lieutenant Nilakeeli. Other two are not there… Lieutenant Kalalnili… Sabaratnam… Sudaranee Thuyaval… Vijayarasa Vijaththa…
They have their numbers.
SON
The numbers are their ID numbers? LTTE…
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
Yes. And then their date of birth or date they joined. I’m not sure which one.
SON
The date of death?
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
I think so. At least some of them have left here.
SON
Yeah. So after the army, the Sri Lanka army ploughed it, they bulldozed it, then the people came and collected them and put them back.
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
Back. I see.
And then… because it’s a war crime to do this. So…
(Walking)
As I remember, Thuyavan is buried someplace here. I should have come with flowers.
Yeah. It’s all full of bodies. They say there, “walk softly.”
SON
Walk softly…
Okay?
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
Yes.
I think it is the left of that corner. Left of that corner. I think it’s here.
Yes, it’s here. Then they cemented over.
Nice man.
SON
Yeah.
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
Always helpful, smiling, dedicated.
SON
We could get some flowers.
ETHIRVEERASINGAM
I think somebody may have.
I’ll lay this here.
Okay… let’s go.
.
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