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The
bitter story behind the glitter All of Sri Lanka rejoiced. It was a rare unifying moment for a war-torn country which desperately needed the kind of balm that this team of courageous cricketers who dared to defy the odds administered; hope that the country could hold its head up with pride. That was March 17, 1996. Exactly ten years later, on March 17, 2006, came news of an unexpected moment of glory. Of how, a young village lad from the rural heartlands of Polonnaruwa had won Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. In weightlifting of all sports! It was a Gold after 12 years at these Games. The story of Chinthana Geethal Vitanage that has emerged this past week is inspiring. It is again a story of courage, self-belief and iron-willed determination. How else would this lad, who lost his father at a young age and who never had the benefit of a 'big school' education go for Gold? He earned the money to travel to Kandy to train at the YMCA by working in the paddy-fields as a labourer and lacking the money to buy the powder that weightlifters use on their palms, smeared cement dust instead. Unlike the cricketers who had the prayers and hopes of the nation to spur them on, Chinthana faced the competition sans support, with the Lankan officials who accompanied the competitors to the Games conspicuously absent. Yet we have no doubt, that when Chinthana returns home, there will be a mass of politicians and Sports Ministry officials, jockeying to be photographed with him and claim credit for his triumph. The sad fact is that whatever success Sri Lanka's sportsmen and women have achieved from the days of Duncan White's historic Olympic silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the London Olympics in 1948 to Susanthika Jayasinghe's bronze-medal winning dash in the women's 100 metres in Sydney 2000, it has largely been by their own efforts. What seems to happen is that with each sporting moment of history begins a circus of corruption. With money flowing in and sponsorships galore, there is ample opportunity for unscrupulous officials to dive into the kitty and exploit the sportsman or woman, as was the case with Susanthika Jayasinghe whose prowess on the track was dogged by problems in her personal life. This may have prompted the Secretary to the Sports Ministry's unfortunate remark that people should not go overboard over Vithanage. Vithanage, we now hear, qualified for international events in 2000, 2002 and 2003 in Korea, in Greece, Tonga and China. But there was no backing for this young man. Who knows what he may have achieved had his potential been spotted and nurtured earlier. Surely those who meet the stringent standards set by international bodies deserve the chance to represent their country? More often than not we see bloated contingents of officials greedy for foreign trips travel at the expense of competitors. But then who's accountable? The Sports Ministry under whose purview come the various sporting bodies that administer sports from cricket to football to athletics and swimming has been glaringly exposed in recent times. Shameful stories that emerged recently of forged visas issued with the alleged connivance of Sports Ministry officials to hapless job seekers with even the Minister of Sports being dragged into the scandal have left the public aghast. The travails of each sporting body are a sorry litany of power-hungry officials and mafia-like operations. Take athletics, where two warring camps, have dragged the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka into the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The goings-on at the Football Federation of Sri Lanka are equally questionable. In cricket, the country's most famous sport, the constant changes in the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, -- with interim administrations being appointed and selectors' boards being shuffled -- have reflected in some measure on the players' performance, pundits would argue. There is money in sport and power aplenty to wield which is why so many officials are loath to relinquish office and those honest individuals who could contribute so much, reluctant to enter the fray. Despite the sports law that was put in place for the betterment of sport, ministerial discretion has been grossly abused and political favourites have ruled the roost. Successive government have seemed powerless to right the blatant misdoings exposed by the media. But through it all, the ordinary Sri Lankan has stood soundly behind the sportsman. When Sanath Jayasuriya blazes yet another century, schoolboys from Matara to Jaffna dream of taking Sri Lanka to World Cup glory again and who knows how many rural youth have been uplifted by Vithanage's feat. The sportsmen and women of this country have dared to conquer. But will any politician be brave enough to stop the rot in the sporting establishment? |
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