Kandy Times

Presiding over the destinies of the sportsmen and sportswomen of the Peradeniya University is youthful, bearded administrator M.D. Palitha Kumara. A product of Ambatenna MV, Palitha has been acting Director of physical Education for just over one year. He holds a post –graduate diploma in physical education and is currently reading for his masters Degree in sociology.
As a student at the University, he played volleyball and won his colours in weight lifting and power lifting for four years. He was adjudged the most outstanding sportsman for two years. Palitha was the National champion in 1994 in weight lifting (82 kg category) and in power lifting (90 kg category). In addition, he was a member of the Kandy District volleyball team.

His administrative experience comes from having served as assistant Secretary of the Weight Lifting Federation for ten years and as Secretary of the Central province Weight Lifting and Power Lifting Association. For good measure, he is also a grade 2 weight lifting coach.

Talking to The Sunday Times regarding the situation at the Peradeniya University vis-à-vis sports, Palitha bemoans the fact that a change in the academic system has impacted adversely on sports. Where there were yearly exams earlier, the University changed over to the semester system around five years ago. This means that there are twice yearly exams. In consequence, competitive sport has been affected.

This was not the case prior to 2000. He adds however that quite a lot of students indulge in sport for recreation. Only 10-15 per cent of the students are committed to their sport. He is greatly saddened by the fact that only about 1 percent of the Muslim and Tamil girls participate in sport. The reason, he feels, may be culture.

Just prior to the freshers meets during the last two years, the newcomers were put through a certificate course of 12 hour duration over three weeks. Subjects like what is physical education and how fitness can be maintained were dealt with. A basic knowledge of selected sports (Track and field), volleyball, Swimming, Badminton, netball, and football) was provided. This programme was a success in the Faculties of Agriculture and veterinary science. This could be due to the fact that they are small faculties.

According to data obtained by SLUSA (Sri Lanka Universities Sports Association) Peradeniya has the greatest participation by students in sport. Further more, Peradeniya has emerged champions at the Inter University games during the past seven years. The Acting Director admits that there is little sustained preparation on the part of the students because of other pressures. Therefore he is forced to adopt ad hoc measures and emphasis is more on participation than competition.

Palitha intends having faculty-wise sports bodies, with the participation of the academic staff. The idea behind the move being the desire to see the faculties showing a greater degree of interest in sport.

In addition to the more common sports, the university also provides facilities for sports such as Tackwondo, Wushu, Karate, Aerobics, Baseball, Elle, Carrom, Chess, Power lifting and Weight lifting. Facilities for all these sports are adequate and coaches have been engaged even from outside for every sport. In fact, it would be true to say that sport in Kandy will suffer badly if university facilities are denied to outsiders. – AK