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| Thursday, 21 August 2003 |
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Sri Lanka seeks more support Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from France PARIS, Wednesday, Sri Lanka is to seek more support from the international athletic community to foster its track and field, according to secretary of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka, Prema Pinnawale. He said that they have sought assistance from affluent nations in the world athletic circuit to uplift the standard of the Indian ocean island. Pinnawale said that Sri Lanka has already shown its ability both on and off the field by successfully conducting the Asian Championship and the 2003 Asian Grand Prix series and that they are now seeking IAAF's assistance to have more international meets in Colombo. "We have proved a point and the IAAF was impressed with the way we hosted those two meets. We are looking at the possibilities of securing a few more meets of international class in Colombo," said Pinnawale who represented Sri Lanka at the 44th IAAF Congress sessions here. Pinnawale said that Sri Lanka will be seeking the assistance of IAAF member countries in whatever possible way, to train local athletes, competition opportunities, short-term coaching stints, expertise of foreign coaches as well as other form of support. "We expect more support from the big names in world athletics. Under the guidance of our President Sunil Jayaweera and Sports Minister Johnston Fernando, we have embarked on a special project to give a more professional look to Sri Lanka athletics," explained Pinnawale, who has been having long-term close rapport with some of the top Olympic and athletic officials in the world. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka athletes are having their final dash here in their lead up to the 203-nation track and field fiesta. Sugath Tillakaratne and Susanthika Jayasinghe arrived with the first match and the remaining members of the Sri Lanka team are due here later today. Sri Lanka team will be managed by the newly-elected president of the Sri Lanka Athletic Coaches Association, Dervin Perera, the former national coach for eight years. Olympic medallist Jayasinghe has been enjoying mixed fortunes since her record-breaking run in sydney three years ago. But unpredictable Jayasinghe could well give Sri Lanka only its second medal in the 20-year-old World Championship history. Jayasinghe's surprise silver in Athens, 1997, has made Sri Lanka one of the three Asian countries to win medals in the history of World Championship. Besides China and Japan, Sri Lanka is the only country to win a medal in the past eight world championship meets. Some of the world's most outstanding athletes have asked to be considered for the first ever election to the IAAF Athletes' Commission which will be held in Paris on the occasion of the IAAF World Championships. This follows a decision of IAAF Council stating that the IAAF Athletes' Commission will be made up of 19 members, of whom 12 shall be elected by their peers and seven appointed by the IAAF. The elections will be conducted by August 30 in the Athletes' Village. All candidates were put forward with the support of their Member Federations before the deadline of July 31, 2003. All accredited athletes at the Paris World Championships have the right to vote. The Election Committee will include IAAF Council Members and former athletics' stars Sergey Bubka, Alberto Juantorena Danger, (co-chairs) and Nawal El Moutawakel (Scrutineer). Those elected to the Commission will serve a four year mandate, with the next elections planned for the 2007 IAAF World Championships in athletics in Osaka. Amongst a list of 26 outstanding candidates are Olympic champions, World Champions and World Record holders. |
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