National shot put record holder, Charith Kapukotuwa, expressed his frustration over his exclusion from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games squad after he bettered the Sri Lanka record three times early this year.
The US based Royalist who is back in the country after completing his bachelor’s degree, said he was previously promised a place in the squad. “Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando (President of Athletics Association) who always helped me and was there for me over the years said I’m in the probable list for the Glasgow Games and asked me to get my visa too,” said Kapukotuwa.
“I flew to Washington just to arrange the British visa which cost me around 1000 $ but in the end I got nothing except disappointment,” added Kapukotuwa.
As for Kapukotuwa what makes him more disappointed was the lack of transparency in the selection procedure.
“I have been inquiring about qualification standard from Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) for a long time. But till now they haven’t informed me or published any qualification standard as other countries do.”
“Even by the British qualification criteria I should get qualified for the Commonwealth Games based on my current performances (17.75m), and I’m sure the British athletics standards are far better than ours,” added Kapukotuwa.
As for Kapukotuwa the Athletics Association has selected the best 11 athletes out of a long list.
But Kapukotuwa cast doubts on some of the athletes selected for the Games considering their mediocre performances. Kapukotuwa who is now 24, received a scholarship after his Advanced Level exam in 2010 to study for a bachelor’s degree while continuing his track and field career, at Chadron State College, Nebraska, USA. He completed his degree this year.
He renewed the national record several times during his stay in the US where the young thrower showed a lot of improvement over the time.
“I was doing around 15m when I left the country but within the first year I improved to 16 metres and hit 17.75m mark early this year,” Kapukotuwa said.
Kapukotuwa trains there under coach Ryan Baily. He would fly back again in August to continue his training under him while studying for his masters degree.
“In the USA they have expert coaches who have in-depth knowledge about events. They are well educated. They too have rich resources such as biomechanical testing, which helped me to improve my technique.”
The young thrower will be eyeing 2016 Rio Olympic qualification and said he is very positive about achieving it as he has been targeting it for a long time.
“In two years time it will be Olympics and I believe I can reach the qualification standard,” Kapukotuwa said.
