Siri Kannangara

Siri Kannangara
Died	7 June 2024 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation(s)	Sports medical doctor, trainer, sports medicine specialist and rheumatologist
Known for	Specialised in sports medicine
Children	3

Siri Kannangara (died 7 June 2024) was a Sri Lankan-born Australian sports medical doctor, trainer, sports medicine specialist and rheumatologist. He was well known for having served the Sri Lankan diaspora community living in Australia for over four decades in terms of assisting them with his medical expertise.

Biography

Kannangara hailed from a village in Bandaragama. He initially pursued his studies at Bandaragama Rambukkara Vidyartha Vidyalaya.

He migrated to Australia in 1977, and died on 7 June 2024.

Career

Kannangara pursued his primary and secondary education at the Royal College in Colombo. He excelled in numerous sports, including table tennis, basketball, and field hockey, when he was studying at Royal College. He entered medical college in 1964 and continued to be engaged in multiple sporting activities, including table tennis, basketball, and field hockey, at the University of Ceylon. He also went onto take the leadership role during his academic career by captaining the Combined Universities team for both field hockey and table tennis during a mercantile invitational tournament which was held in India. He successfully completed his MBBS at the University of Colombo in 1970. Immediately after he became qualified as a doctor in 1971, he received a lucrative employment opportunity in New Zealand at a teaching hospital at Christchurch. He met All Blacks rugby union player Liam Barry, who also served as a physician at the Guy's Hospital in London, as the latter offered him the job of senior registrar. He also received a scholarship to New Zealand where he completed further medical training in sports medicine.

In October 1977, he was appointed the doctor to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket involving powerhouses Australia and the West Indies. During the 1977 World Series Cricket, he notably offered medical treatment and consultancy to leading cricketers at the time, including Viv Richards, Barry Richards and Clive Lloyd. He also became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) as well as a Fellow of the Australian College of Sports Physicians (FACSP). He was also appointed the Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney. During his career, he also trained several aspiring medical students as well as young doctors offering consultancy and mentorship whenever necessary. He had also notably provided consultancy services and guidance related to medical issues for Sri Lankan sportspeople prior to their participation at certain international sporting events in Australia. He was also appointed the designated physician to Australian Olympic contingents during the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. He was also invited by the International Olympic Committee to join the torch relay during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics which was staged in Sydney.

He was appointed the first Australian Medical Officer by FIFA for its Medical Committee, and his role was aimed to provide insight and analysis on medical matters and issues pertaining to visiting Asian and Oceanian countries by teaching them various aspects of sports medicine. He served in as a FIFA Medical Committee Member for a tenure of seven-year period from 1999 to 2006. He was officially inducted to the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition for his outstanding services towards medical field. He was conferred with a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia during the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours highlighting his significant contributions to medicine, particularly in the field of sports medicine and rheumatology.

He was engaged with Sri Lankan cricketers, especially whenever the Sri Lankan men's national cricket team traveled to Australia to play against Australia in an international bilateral series and he also often shared the dressing room with the Sri Lankan cricket team members whenever Sri Lanka toured Australia for international series. He had also given medical consultation and medical guidance to some of the Sri Lankan cricketers, including former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga and fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga. It was also revealed that some Sri Lankan cricketers, including Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Nuwan Zoysa, Arjuna Ranatunga, and Chaminda Vaas, insisted on bringing Siri Kannangara on board as part of the Sri Lankan medical support staff prior to the start of the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England, but Kannangara turned down the offer due to potential scheduling difficulties. He provided medical guidance to former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in order to help him overcome the challenges with regards to handling career threatening medical injuries which Tendulkar sustained during his 24 year long international career. During his tenure as the director of the New South Wales Institute of Sports Medicine, he was at the forefront of analyzing Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action as part of the University of South Australia case study to determine whether Muralitharan's bowling action was genuinely legitimate or if he was chucking the ball in his bowling runup when delivering the ball in his follow-through at the international level.