Dr. Sankalpana -Match Day Doctor for Rugby World Cup 2019

Words: Ricky Simms

With great pride, Sri Lanka Rugby wishes to announce that Dr. Namith Sankalpana is selected as a Match Day Doctor for the upcoming 'Rugby World Cup 2019' which will be held in Japan. Dr. Sankalpana will kick things off in the very 1^st game between Japan and Russia on the 20th of September at the Tokyo Stadium, where the opening ceremony of RWC 2019 takes place just prior to the opening game.

Dr. Sankalpana is currently employed at the Sports and Exercise Medicine Unit of the National Hospital in Sri Lanka as the Medical Officer in Charge.A graduate from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura,Dr. Sankalpana completed his Postgraduate studies in Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of Colombo. A product of Nalanda College, he was involved in water sports during his school days as a swimming captain and Water Polo player.

Dr. Sankalpana has been closely involved with rugby over the years, currently holding the positions of Chief Medical officer (SLR), Chairman Medical Committee (SLR) and Team physician of the national (Men's and Women's) rugby team.

To further strengthen his qualifications and experience, he completed the World Rugby'Immediate care in Rugby" Level 2 course in Japan in 2016. He became a World Rugby Medical Educator by completing the 'World Rugby course' in 2017 in Dubai, becoming the First Medical Educator in the South Asia Region.In 2018, he completed the World Rugby 'Advance Immediate Care in Rugby - Level 3' course in Singapore.In November 2018 he went to London, UK representing Asia Rugby as the Asia Rugby delegate to attend the World Rugby Medical Commission Conference. There he completed the 'World Rugby Medical Trainer' course and got qualified as a World rugby medical trainer which enabled him to deliver World Rugby Level 2 and Level 3 courses on behalf of World Rugby. 

Due to his accomplishments and commitment, he was appointed to the Asia Rugby Medical Committee known as "MedCom" in January 2018, and is currently the Regional Head for players Welfare in the Asia South Region which includes Sri Lanka. Dr. Sankalpana was the only Sri Lankan Doctor to be appointed as a Match Day Doctor for the 'Hong Kong Sevens' 2019 tournament for consecutive years in 2018 and 2019.

It has been a very challenging and exciting journey for Dr. Sankalpana with Sri Lanka Rugby, bringing several  new ideas and innovations for Sri Lanka Rugby. He was instrumental in appointing qualified Match Day Doctors for Inter Club rugby matches since 2016/2017. The Match Day Doctor is responsible for Medical related matters during the game, also called as Medical Referee.  A Concussion management system was introduced during the 2017/2018 rugby season in order to keep the game safer for the players. The 'Recognize and remove protocol system' which was recommended by the governing body - World Rugby, was also introduced to local rugby. 

All Team Medics were trained to handle injuries, and the 'WR FAIR level 1' course was conducted in Colombo. All Medics in the technical zone are level 1 accredited during club rugby matches. Under his guidance qualified Match Day doctors with level 1 and 2 were increased in numbers over the last couple of years. After these latest medical developments by SLR, Asia Rugby has identified Sri Lanka as one of the top Unions for Players welfare in Asia Rugby.

In future, Dr. Sankalpana is hoping to hold a pre - participation medical evaluation for National rugby players, which will be conducted as an injury prevention measure in the future. He also has plans to improve  things such as sports nutrition, injury prevention, performance enhancement in the national team, introduce sports psychology to national teams, implement medical fitness assessment tools for the national teams, introduce the concussion management system for the school season, and introduction of Head Injury Assessment (HIA) protocol to Sri Lanka Rugby.

With utmost pride and happiness he said 'My greatest achievement in this field, is the selection as a Match Day Doctor for the Rugby World Cup 2019 which will be held in Japan. They have selected only 4 Doctors from Asia and I am the only one from Sri Lanka'. He went on to thank Mrs. Joy Walter (former medical coordinator- Asia Rugby) and Mr. Rohan Gunaratne (Executive Director of Sri Lanka Rugby) for the support and corporation rendered to him over the years.

Sri Lanka Rugby wishes Dr. Sankalpana all the best for the World Cup, and his future endeavors.