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Sports

For god's sake let sanity prevail!
By S.R. Pathiravithana
Electioneering is a practice that we Sri Lankans are very adept at. Unlike in any other country, we here in Sri Lanka are very capable of having a fresh a election at the drop of a hat. This time it's the turn of the Amateur Athletic Association to have fresh election and find their set of persons to run the state off affairs which will include the running of the very important South Asian Federation Games which is billed to be held in August next year. Whoever wins the seat, for god's sake let sanity prevail at least from that point onwards.

The whole episode came by with the turn of the government and the appointment of a new minister of sport. As what always happens in Sri Lanka the disgruntled set of persons were soon at work carrying tales about the hierarchy of the Amateur Athletic Association to the minister. They had a very potent point with them. The man at the helm of things in the AAASL-- Sunil Jayaweera was an opposition candidate at the recently concluded Provincial Council elections.

Things started rolling. A three-man commission was appointed. Mainly to probe about financial misdeeds. The government auditor himself had already cleared the AAA. The result? The Amateur Athletic Association's registration to the ministry of sport was cancelled. All this was done while the just concluded Olympic games were hot on heels and the contingent just about to leave the island. As a result the AAA president who was to accompany the contingent as Manager was dropped and another went in his place. The disaster that followed is now history.

By this shortsighted act of the ministry the whole sphere of Athletics in Sri Lanka was in a quagmire. The government did not recognize the Amateur Athletic Association. The Amateur Association though recognized by the IAF did not have the official capacity to select a national contingent. It looked like a serpent swallowing its own tail.

"We could have sought legal action against the Sri Lankan Olympic contingent before they left our shores. We were confident that we were on solid ground; I do not know what the outcome would have been in the courts, but in the larger interest of sport we refrained from doing so" said the incumbent president Sunil Jayaweera when he was confronted by The Sunday Times about the current impasse.

Continuing Jayaweera said "Even at the Olympics there were shortcomings faced by our athletes as a result of this. The marathon runner Indrajith was without an official T-shirt while participating at the event. All these things were under control till the sudden change came in at the eleventh hour. However after the contingent had flown to Greece I went and met the minister and explained to him about the serious repercussions that the local athletics would face as a result of the prevailing situation and I offered that if the cancellation of the registration is lifted, I am very thankful that he accepted my offer. The AAA would call for fresh elections within six weeks of the date of the announcement. As it is we have earmarked the first week of November for this and I am hoping to seek re-election'.

When The Sunday Times asked the AA chief about the falling standards of athletics and seemingly no new blood being injected into the talent bank, Jayaweera said "At present the system we have is all wrong. We are only fooling ourselves. Recently the AAA formed some district pools and we invited all those students who had done well at the provincial meets to join the pool. But, as there was no patronage of the Education ministry all these efforts were in vain. As there was no encouragement at the Education Ministry level and no encouragement was given to the teachers who accompanied the students to these camps the whole exercise fell apart. Finally it ended up as an utter wastage of money and time.

Not only to the present regime but, even to the previous regime I pointed out there should be proper cooperation among the four main basics to get things right. They are:

· The Sports Ministry
· The Education Ministry
· The National Association
· The School Association

Working in tandem. Then only the proper blending comes in. I can proudly say that during my tenure at the ministry of Education this system was mooted. These organizations mentioned above worked as a unit and the result was we produced Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sriyani Kulawansa, Damayanthi Dharsha, Rohan Pradeep Kumara etc…etc.

But, following their footsteps who has come up in these given sports? Take the present national netball team. The majority of players came from that system we had mooted. The same goes with most of other sports too. Let anybody come and take the seats and occupy them. But, let's have a proper system and only then can we see the results pouring in", said Jayaweera in conclusion. At least now for god's sake let sanity prevail !

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