Five vie for NOC top post
The serving Vice President of NOC, Shirantha Peries, representing the National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka, was the first to officially unveil his mandate, which promises good governance, transparency and an athlete-centred administration by holding a press conference in Colombo. Indications were clear that nominations would be presented by the President of Ski and Snowboard Association of Sri Lanka and a Vice President of NOC, Deva Henry and former Vice President of NOC and President of Sri Lanka Amateur Baseball/Softball Association, Asanga Seneviratne would enter the race to contest alongside Peries.
Though suggestions were made by a representatives of a few National Associations that they would nominate a common candidate to contest representing deprived member associations of NOC, a name was not revealed until earlier last week. The FFSL President, Umar came into the fray as the said common candidate as the list for NOC Presidency became four, until Preethi Perera, the current Treasurer of NOC, representing the National Association for Canoeing and Kayaking in Sri Lanka, entered the race to complete the final list as a battle among five candidates.
Two nominations have been received for the post of Secretary General with one being the incumbent, Rifdy Fahmy representing the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union. The President, Modern Pentathlon Federation of Sri Lanka, Nishanthe Indunil Piyasena and a long serving committee member of NOC, joins the race representing Umar’s faction. The three nominations that have shown interest to contest for the position of Assistant Secretary are Sarath Ittawavitharana, Prof. Samantha Nanayakkara and Asmitha Perera.
A total of 10 nominations have been forwarded to fill in the four Vice President slots, with Niloo Jayatilake seeking reelection, representing Sri Lanka Golf. Others who have forwarded their nominations are Iqbal Bin Issack, President of Sri Lanka Tennis Association; Preethi Perera; Asanga Seneviratne; Bimal Wijayasinghe, the newly elected President of Sri Lanka Athletics; Sarath Hewawitharana, the President of Wrestling Federation of Sri Lanka and current Executive Committee member of NOC; Lt. Col. Ajith Kumara Siyambalapitiya, the General Secretary of National Association of Fencing Sri Lanka; Senior DIG Sajeewa Chandana Medawatta, President of Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation and present Executive Committee member of NOC; Roshan Gunawardena, President of Sri Lanka Badminton; Perumal Visvanathan, President of Sri Lanka Hockey Federation.
Four nominations have been entered for the position of Treasurer, with Namal Ekanayake, Ajith Ashok Kumar, Dasun Wijesinghe and Ajith Siyabalapitiya showing interest. Dasun Wijesinghe has entered his nomination for the position of Assistant Treasurer as well against Asanka Ariyachandra.
The nominations forwarded to fill in as Committee Members are Akhry Ameer, Mahinda Liyanage, Kosala Wikramanayake, Prof. Samantha Nanayakkara, Pavithra Fernando, Danuna Thilakaratne, Roshan Gunawardane and Upali Rajapaksa.
The AGM to elect the new Executive Committee of NOC for the tenure of 2026-2030 will be held on April 25 at the Olympic House at 4:00pm, with the election process coming under an independent Electoral Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge K.T. Chithrasiri, with President’s Counsel Harsha Amarasekara and Attorney at Law Piyasena Ranasinghe forming the committee. Though 33 member associations of NOC are enlisted, only 28 have secured voting rights 28, which will be the deciding factor among five contenders. The Electoral Commission opened until April 17 to submit objections to nominations, with rulings expected swiftly.
| Nominations for NOC Executive Committee for period of 2026-2030 | |
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