[6] Navaratnam married Sri Lankan-born British-American best-selling author Rosemary Jansz and the couple had two daughters, Rosanne and Sharon.
[8] Navaratnam established himself as a reputed prominent distinguished sportsman at the Royal College in Colombo where he pursued his primary and secondary education.
He competed in the men's 4 × 100 yards relay event alongside Duncan White, R. E. Kitto and Basil Henricus.
[11] He teamed up with fellow prominent track and field athletes Duncan White, John de Saram and Oscar Wijesinghe in the men's 4 × 110 yards event where Sri Lanka finished in fourth position during the 1950 British Empire Games.
[12] Navaratnam was fondly called "the fastest man in Asia" after clocking at record 10.4 seconds at the India States Olympic Meet which was held in Madras in 1953.
He also captained the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club and under his captaincy CR & FC won the Clifford Cup in 1954.
[17] Navaratnam pursued a mercantile career as a junior trading executive of Dodwell & Company in Colombo.