Two former sports administrators lambasted Sports Ministry, National Olympic Committee as well as Athletics Association of Sri Lanka for chaotic and irresponsible handling of the selection process leading to several deserving athletes being deprived of an opportunity to join the national contingent for the Asian Games.
They asserted that the athletes had been omitted from the national squad for want of cohesive planning and coordination.
Some of the leading athletes including the best athlete of this year’s National Athletics Championship are not part of Sri Lanka’s track and field team for Incheon Asian Games, despite the list of names of leading athletes going through the scrutiny of three selection panels.
When contacted for their views in this regard, veteran coach and former president of the AASL, Sunil Gunawardena said that lack of foresight of the sports administrators was the reason, while veteran coach and former Director of Sports Yogananda Wijesundara cited lack of coordination among the leading institutions as the main reason for the debacle.
“They have made a blunder by not selecting top athletes. The lack of coordination between the Athletics Association and the National Olympic Committee and the Sports Ministry’s failure to monitor the process are the reasons behind this blunder,” said Wijesundara in reply to The Island queries.
“AASL made a big mistake by sending the names of athletes before conducting the trials. How can you select a team without conducting the trials?” questioned Wijesundara, who has two of his athletes being selected in the team for Incheon.
“I don’t think that there is a good relationship between AASL and NOC. I also don’t think that the Sports Ministry has monitored the selection process.,” said Wijesundara.
He said that the selection committee, which is directly responsible to the Sports Minister should have acted with more authority and more responsibility. “They should have known the consequences of selecting a team before conducting the final trial.”
“The current president (Palitha Fernando) has been at the helm of athletics for some eight years. The current Sports Minister has been there for four years. When the Sri Lanka team returned without a single medal at the last Asian Games, the minister appointed a committee to inquire. But still the best team from the country haven’t been selected. Had there been proper coordination between NOC and AASL this kind of situation wouldn’t have arisen,” said a disappointed Gunawardena in reply to The Island queries.
“We were able to win the highest number of Asian Games medals at the 1998 Asian Games because of planning. We planned years before the Games. We motivated athletes, gave incentives, provided sponsorships and looked after the athletes. You don’t see that today,” lamented Gunawardena whose trainee Damayanthi Dharsha’s feats in 1998 (200m 22.48secs) and 2002 (400m 51.13secs) still stand as Asian Games records to date.
Some 20 track and field athletes reached locally set qualifying standards for the Asian Games at the last month’s National Athletics Championships. But the list of names sent by the AASL to NOC was pruned to 11 largely because the ‘long list’ sent previously did not contain some of the names. Long jumper Amila Jayasiri, who was adjudged the best athlete of the National Championship (equaled the national record) and leading 800 metres runner Nimali Liyanarachchi who won an Asian Grand Prix double are the two most notable athletes to have been eliminated from the team. The AASL announced the National Championship as the final trial for Asian Games. While the second runner up of the men’s long jump event is touring Incheon, there is no place for the champion and runner up. The Sports Minister’s directive to prune Sri Lanka’s teams for international events, following country’s lackluster performances at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games also affected the selection process.
