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| Wednesday, 31 December 2003 |
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Athletes to do it the ukraine way by Dinesh Weerawansa The New Year dawns with a historic news for Sri Lanka sports as the country, for the first time in its near century long history of track and field, employ three professional athletic coaches. On a special initiative made by the Minister of Youth Affiars & Sports Johnston Fernando, three internationally qualified athletic coaches from the former USSR Republic of Ukraine will be in Colombo by mid January to assume duties as coaches of the Sri Lanka team. Ukrines Evgene Shvilli, Mykola Baklanov and Dmypto Vanyaikin, all three former star Russian athletes who have now turned professional coaches, are due to arrive in Colombo by January 15 to assume duties with the Lankan national team. Though there have been a few instances where Sri Lanka obtained services of foreign coaches to train its athletes, this is the first time that paid international coaches are employed to train the national pool, according to the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL). A sum of USD 5,400 would be paid to the three coaches - USD 1,800 each, per month. Apart from the monthly payments all other expenses on food, accommodation, travel and other incidental expenses of the three coaches will be met through finances channeled to the AASL by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. Minister Johnston Fernando has been a keen follower of Sri Lanka athletics and has decided to pay monthly salaries of the three coaches by the Sports Ministry. "Our athletes have made our country proud over the years. But we need the assistance of top foreign coaches to meet tomorrow's challenges. Our coaches and athletes should be given the latest knowledge and training methods if our athletes are to do even better in the international arena," happy Minister said. He said the finances made to obtain the services of three foreign coaches are an investment for the future. "There may not be instant results, but this effort is definitely an investment for the future. We have to think of a long-term plan to groom our youngsters to take places in the national team," he said. Minister stressed the importance of forming a good feeder pool to take over once the present top international class athletes retire in the next couple of years. The three Ukraine coaches will be in charge of different areas and would work alongside the national coach Lakshman de Alwis. Shvilli (jumps), Baklanov (middle and long distance running) and Vanyaikin (sprints) will take over their respective fields and would train national athletes as well as their coaches. The AASL also plans to utilise the extra time of the three coaches to train provincial athletes too. Born on September 25, 1945, IAAF-qualified Shvilli has been engaged in a coaching stint in Vietnam. He has been a professional coach since 1969 and has worked with the national teams in USSR (1969-71), Poland (73-77), Uzbekistan (67-69, 77-82), Czech Republic (1982-86) and Thailand (1995-2002). He has produced many champion athletes, including Asian Games gold medallists. He will be coaching the triple jumpers and long jumpers. Baklanov, born on May 20, 1949, is a champion Russian athlete during his day in men's 3,000m steeple chase. He was the men's 1,500m champion at European Junior Championships in 1968 and also the record holder in men's 3,000m steeple chase in 1970 at USSR National Championships. Educated at Russian Academy, Baklanov took to coaching after his career as an athlete and became a qualified coach. He had a three-year stint at Kiev National Institute and was a national coach in the Ukraine team from 1986 to 1989. He will be in-charge of middle and long distance running. Thirty eight-year-old Vanyaikin is the youngest of the three Ukrainian coaches to sign contracts with Sri Lanka and will be training the Lankan sprinters. Born on January 14, 1966, Vanyaikin has been an undisputed sprint king in Ukraine during his day, winning Ukraine national championship 100m from 1986 to 1990. Has been a member of the USSR national team from 1984 to 1994. |
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