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| Monday, 12 April 2004 |
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Jeewan, Sripathi want sports to reach greater heights by Dinesh Weerawansa Grooming the rural talent to meet the future demands in Sri Lanka sports would be a priority when the new Sports Ministers take office. The new Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Jeewan Kumaranatunga and Deputy Sripathi Sooriyarachchi would pay special emphasis on the development of sports at grassroots level so that Sri Lanka could find its future national stars. In an exclusive interview with the 'Daily News', Minister Jeevan Kumaranatunga called everybody to rally round and work as a team for the betterment of sports.
"There seems to be several problems in some sports controlling bodies. We could iron out those problems with discussions," he said. He also supported a national sports policy with a vision for the future. The Minister also said sports is a great leveller and could play an active role amongst youth. "My message to sportsmen and women is rally round as one for the promotion of sports in our country. Forget all differences, give your ideas so that we could reach greater heights in the field of sports and youth affairs. Minister Kumaranatunga has always helped budding sportsmen and women and is ready to take Sri Lanka to greater heights in sports.
Minister Kumaranatunga is no stranger to sports, having served as the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Minister of Youth Affairs in previous People's Alliance Governments. A cousin of the late Sri Lanka Mahajana Party leader, Vijaya Kumaranatunga, he played a key role after taking to politics as one of the most famous cinema stars in Sri Lanka. He first contested the 1993 Provincial Council election with success. He made a successful debut at the 1994 General elections to enter Parliament from Colombo District. Ever since, he had convincingly won three more general elections to be a live wire of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. His wife Sherine too has been an active promoter of sports, holding several key positions in sports bodies. She has been the President of the Colombo District Netball Association and Women's Cricket Association. The New Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports, Sripathi Sooriyarachchi is a lawyer by profession. The youthful Deputy Minister was a versatile sportsman during his day and had excelled in wrestling, cricket and elle. He had his early education at Christ King College, Thudella and later at St.Anthony's College, Wattala. He emerged All-Island champion in 80kg, 90kg and 105kg weight classes in wrestling, representing Kandana Wrestling Club. He also played competitive cricket for Bristol Sports Club, Kandana. Sooriyarachchi has also served as an officer at the Sri Lanka Navy before retiring as a lieutenant. Later, he followed law and became a lawyer. He has also taken part at Sri Lanka Navy Inter-Regimental meets with distinction. In his first interview after being appointed to the post of Deputy Minister, Sooriyarachchi said the new Government would draw a national programme to pick the talented sportsmen and women in the provinces and groom them for the future. "There is so much of talent in the provinces. What we need is a nation-wide programme to identify the talent and train them as future investments," he said. "For example, Badulla has many promising soccer players and Matale is rich in talent for hockey. We have to make use of their talent to feed the national teams in future," he said. He commended the idea of a national sports policy, but said it would take some time to implement it. "We just cannot have such a policy overnight. We must get the views of all experts in the fields. Not only here, we must study such policies in the other countries and get what is most suitable for us," he said. Commenting on the recent performance of the Sri Lanka contingent at the 9th South Asian Games in Pakistan, the Deputy Minister said Sri Lanka could not be satisfied with the performance, though they won 15 gold medals. "I think our timings and performances have dropped a bit, compared to previous Games. Our timings have not been that good. We should have done better," he said. Asked about the short-term goals in sports, Sooriyarachchi said Sri Lanka's first target should be to gain top places in South Asia. "We must identify our targets. The easiest targets should be drawn in to short-term goals. Average ones for medium term targets and comparatively tough tasks at world level should be drawn in to long-term targets. We must get-together to work towards those goals," he explained. |
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