Many a leading sportsmen and women of Sri Lanka Air Force have been compelled to undergoing nearly two and half month-long mandatory military training, which leading coaches allege would jeopardize their chances of engaging in systematic training, preparing and qualifying for a number of international events including Rio Olympics.
While Sri Lanka Navy has already started a similar compulsory training (military) for its sportsmen, Sri Lanka Air Force is about to commence training for its ‘civil’ athletes.
The compulsory military training has been introduced ahead of a busy international schedule for sportsmen. With Sri Lanka Air Force nurturing hundreds of leading track and field athletes and other sportsman, the military training is going to deal a severe blow to those striving hard to achieve qualifying standards for international events.
“We are performance oriented coaches. We train the elite athletes of this country. And there are lot of expectations on them. When you talk of performances it is athletics training, nutrition and rest. But when you go for this kind of military training the whole athletic training programme gets disturbed. This military training, if goes according to plan will cause an irreparable damage,” a leading coach training Sri Lanka Air Force athletes told The Island on the condition of anonymity.
The tri forces are nurturing country’s top level sportsman and women in many sports disciplines and Sri Lanka Air Force recruited some of the best junior athletes leaving schools during the last few years.
“When we joined, there was no such system. That is why we joined. We would get the salary from Air Force and we run for them. That was a huge boost for our careers,” said a young athlete.
Some of the sportsmen who are in the peak of their careers and only a few years left to retire, find the military training as a curse as that would ‘knock the day light out of reaching the top level.
“We are not machines. The fibers and muscles of our bodies have been trained in a certain pattern for years now. Military training means we will have to spend a couple of more years again to train as athletes,” said an elite athlete who is reaching the peak of his career.
Nimali Liyanarachchi, who won country’s only medal, a bronze, at the Asian Athletic Championships in Wuhan on Sunday is an Air Force athlete and will be striving hard for qualifying standards for Olympic Games. She is among several Air Force athletes who are on the border of qualifying standards.
An Air Force official said that the training course will not be longer than two months and the athletes would be able to train for athletics disciplines in the afternoon. He said that the first batch of athletes undergoing military training are the second string athletes who are yet to peak at national level.
A leading coach said that many coaches are seriously considering giving up coaching Air Force athletes after the newly introduced compulsory military training.
