Harshan Lamabadusuriya

Harshan Lamabadusuriya

Harshan Lamabadusuriya (born 13 January 1979) was the runner-up of Series 34 in 1997.

He was an 'A'-level student at Steyning Grammar School in Sussex. Harshan made his debut in the first heat game of the series, comfortably beating Bob Edwards 55 – 44, and thus became the first new champion of the show following the Supreme Championship. Harshan won another two games without facing a crucial Conundrum before losing at the hands of Paul Wells. Harshan returned for the final rounds as #5 seed. He beat Peter Sampson in the quarter-final with a score of 72 — the highest of the series - following a commanding performance, and then pulled off a minor upset by beating #1 seed James Martin 48 – 31 in the semi-final the very next day, with the outcome already decided before the Conundrum. In the final against Huw Morgan, however, Harshan suffered a dramatic loss of form, struggling for points in the early rounds, and was ultimately beaten 79 – 65 despite staging a minor comeback towards the end. Notably, Harshan admitted at the presentation of the dictionaries that it was Huw narrowly beating him to the buzzer on the first Conundrum that really did the damage, as this put Huw 24 points ahead, by 47 – 23, at half time, effectively leaving Harshan no way back; however, had Harshan got to the buzzer first, the final result would in fact have eventually gone in his favour by 75 – 69.

Harshan returned for Championship of Champions IX, beating Kate Surtees in the first round before losing to Pete Cashmore in the quarter-final.

Harshan would return to Countdown one more time, playing a special episode against fellow Scrabble Grand Master Brett Smitheram which he won 101 – 87.

Preceded by Allan Saldanha

Series runner-up Series 34

Followed by Dag Griffiths

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
1908	30/12/1996	P	Bob Edwards	44 – 55	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Sheridan Morley	Rob Scriven	85
1909	31/12/1996	P	Sandra Verhiest	12 – 50	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Sheridan Morley	Rob Scriven	70
1910	1/01/1997	P	John Verhiest	40 – 66	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Sheridan Morley	Rob Scriven	72
1911	2/01/1997	P	Paul Wells	54 – 36	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Sheridan Morley	Rob Scriven	72
1969	25/03/1997	QF	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	72 – 30	Peter Sampson	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	Rob Scriven	73
1970	26/03/1997	SF	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	48 – 31	James Martin	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	Rob Scriven	71
1972	28/03/1997	GF	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	65 – 79	Huw Morgan	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Richard Digance	Rob Scriven	116
2164	30/12/1997	CP	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	44 – 34	Kate Surtees	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Denis Norden	Mark Nyman	72
2172	9/01/1998	CQF	Pete Cashmore	65 – 52	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman				Lucy Summers	Gloria Hunniford	Mark Nyman	85
S7	3/09/2003	S	Brett Smitheram	87 – 101	Harshan Lamabadusuriya	Richard Whiteley	Carol Vorderman					Richard Stilgoe	Damian Eadie	118