SA Games - getting started

It's what you see that you cut at the end as harvest. It is what you invest that would turn into returns. Our sports administrators and officials should know these things better with less than a year away from Sri Lanka's scheduled hosting of the 10th South Asian Games next year.

Finally, there was good news that Sri Lanka's preparations for the eight-nation Games would commence by the middle of this month. We hope this would go ahead as scheduled and that financial constraints would not be an obstacle to kick off the training schedules of the national pools.

True enough there are numerous obstacles to overcome when we host Games of this magnitude. But South Asian Games are nothing compared to a global event like Olympics, or even regional Asian Games for that matter. But definitely, South Asian Games is South Asia's Olympic version and is a challenge to any of the eight countries in the region.

However, Sri Lanka had successfully proved its capabilities by way of both organization and performance when we hosted the Fifth Games in Colombo, 1991. It was the best Games up to then and was illuminated by Sri Lanka's best ever performance of 44 gold medals.

The challenge ahead of us is to emulate, or even to better, that performance when the South Asian Games comes to Sri Lanka only for the second time, that too after 15 years since we first hosted it.

But how we are going to face that gigantic task, either by performance or by organisation, including the competition venues, is left to be seen.

Unfortunately, we have not invested on any of the major sports venues since the redevelopment of the Sugathadasa Stadium complex. Sri Lanka's first ever-artificial running track, international class indoor stadium and swimming pool were constructed in 1991 for the Fifth South Asian Games.

Forget about putting up similar venues to develop infrastructure development, we have even failed to adequately maintain the venue we developed for the 1991 Games. Then, how are we going to meet modern demands in hosting the 10th edition of the Games next year.

Sri Lanka may keep the competition venues ready even a day prior to the commencement of the Games. But that is not the point. In making a huge investment on infrastructure development, we must think of the future and plan out our requirements.

But mostly what we do is show a staggering expenditure to complete some hurried work at the end. After all we spend the same amount of money, or even more, but not quality work.

Hence, we must get in to action right now! If we don't' have finances, just forget the Games and let some other country host it. But if we are going ahead, get the finances out right now and start upgrading the venues so that the contractors would not be able to get away with some hurried and substandard work at the end. Since we invest valuable public funds, we must make sure to get the maximum out of the investment with some quality work, not to fill purses of a few notorious officials as commissions and other means.

Secondly and more importantly, sportsmen and women in national pools must get at least basic requirements to make sure the preparations are smooth. We don't want to hear any excuses at the end. Give the lads and lasses what they need to train under favourable conditions. Without giving the facilities they need to train, do not expect them to perform miracles. Our politicians and sports officials often boast of their own performance targets.

They may say we would win so many gold medals. But they must be careful enough to look into the training and facilities the athletes are given before arriving at such conclusions. The harvest would depend on what you see, under what conditions the plants grow and type of fertilizer you put over a period of time. Fertilizing just before harvesting would not have any bearing on what you pluck.

Similarly, our sportsmen should be given enough time to train with adequate facilities.

Just a few hurriedly organized crash courses weeks before the Games to attract media publicity would not do any good to improve the performance record of Sri Lanka at the final medals table. As we have emphasized on numerous occasions, there are no short cuts to success.

Unfortunately, our administrators have not understood this simple and global fact. It is a pity that most officials in third world countries, mainly in South Asia, still keep faith on instant sports training programs.