Kuruppu Karunaratne

Kuruppu Arachchige Karunaratne (or K.A. Karunaratne; 29 April 1960 – 6 April 2008) was a Sri Lankan long-distance runner who specialized in the marathon event.

As a runner he won 1990 Singapore Marathon in a time of 2:21:10, competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 1993 World Championships.[1]

He was killed on 6 April 2008 along with 14[2] others by a suicide bomber, who exploded himself at the start of a marathon race which was part of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration in Weliveriya town. Sri Lanka's national athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis and politician Jeyaraj Fernandopulle were also killed in the bombing which wounded 90 others.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Kuruppu A. KARUNARATNE - Olympic Athletics | Sri Lanka". International Olympic Committee. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Blast kills Sri Lankan minister". BBC News. 6 April 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  3. ^ "IAAF condemns bombing of marathon in Sri Lanka". IAAF.org. 6 April 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
  4. ^ "Tributes paid to Karu and Alwis". BBC News. 6 April 2008.