Sri Lanka’s performances marred by athletes decamping
Vittalis Niklas (L) was the last to leave camp among the four runaways
While Sri Lanka’s medals tally reached four, a silver and three bronzes, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, notably earning the island nation its best achievement in track and field, the number of deserters too reached four after a boxer fled the camp on Friday evening.
Vittalis Niklas, who skyrocketed to fame of being the first pugilist from Sri Lanka’s northern region of Tharmapuram, Kilinochchi, competed in the Men’s Over 67kg-71kg Light Middleweight category Round of 16 on Wednesday, before he decamped couple of days later.
Besides Vittalis, wrestler Shanith Chathuranga, judoka Chamila Dilani and judo official Duminda Asela de Silva went missing within a span of few days.
Judoka Dilani and official de Silva were the first pair that were reported to have fled the athletes’ camp earlier last week while wrestler Chathuranga followed track two days later, before Vittalis’ name popped up as the fourth deserter out of the contingent of 161 athletes and officials.
Meanwhile according to foreign reports, the West Midlands police on Thursday evening confirmed that it had managed to locate two members who went missing. Reportedly the two are Dilani and de Silva, who had apparently inquired a police officer on public duty if they could remain in England until their visa expires in six months.
The West Midland police, however had not confirmed the names of the two located Sri Lankans, while stating that it would continue investigation into the third missing athlete, wrestler Chathuranga. The statement was made by the West Midland police a day prior to Vittalis went missing.
“Two people a woman in her 30s and a man in his 40s, were reported missing on August 1. Both have now been located and are no longer missing. As of August 4, we have received a report of a third man in his 20s as missing. Enquiries are ongoing to locate him,” an official of the West Midland police was quoted as saying.
Soon after the judo pair went missing last Monday, Sri Lanka team officials instructed the respective managers of sports disciplines to collect passports and other valuables for safe keeping of all athletes remaining in Birmingham. It is reported that wrestler Chathuranga and pugilist Vittalis had stormed out of the camp without their passports.
Sri Lanka’s historic achievement in athletics, sprinter Yupun Abeykoon winning the bronze medal in Men’s 100m event, first occasion the island nation won a medal in the core track event, was overshadowed by the humiliating hop of fellow athletes.
Sri Lanka’s National Olympic Committee, months prior to the Commonwealth Games, confirmed to the Sunday Times that they would assign two officials designated by the Ministry of Sports, solely to stand in as caretakers or observers, preventing athletes from potentially looting out of the contingent and becoming runaways or illegal immigrants. Yet, so far four managed to elope.
All 161 athletes, coaching staff and officials were granted standard 180-day visas by the government for the Commonwealth Games 2022. An official of the Birmingham Metropolitan Police had told the Sri Lankan team management that necessary action would be taken after the visa expires in six months.
The Sri Lankan team officials were well aware that chances of athletes and officials running away during the multi-sport event was obvious, with the country’s deteriorated economy and living standards and the political instability during the past few months.
In 2014 two Sri Lankan athletes, Wasantha Rathnapala and Prasanna Dissanayake went missing from the 17th Asian Games in South Korea, while their passports were under the custody of their respective team officials. Rathnapala had gone missing a day prior to the closing ceremony and Dissanayake disappeared from the village hours prior to the Sri Lanka team’s departure home bound. Rathnapala, a Voluntary Special Service of Sri Lanka Navy was one strong member of the beach volleyball team while Dissanayake, a Regular member of Sri Lanka Army represented Sri Lanka at hockey. Both were branded as deserters by their establishments. Previously a member of the Sri Lanka cycling team went missing at the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the same year.
In 2004, a group of 23 athletes disguising as members of the Sri Lanka Handball team went missing during a tournament in Germany, whereas the game was not even introduced to the country.