Athletics in crisis

Sri Lanka athletics is in a crisis situation, following an administration battle amongst executive committee members from the same camp.

Though it was speculated that President of the Athletic Association, Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon would step down from his top seat, he still continues to remain president at the time of writing.

The Minister was elected president at the last AASL election in March 2005 by a mere two-vote majority after a hectic battle with veteran former Sri Lanka coach Dervin Perera.

Media reports said Minister Tennekoon's sudden decision was prompted by a possible no-confidence motion which was to be brought against him at Tuesday's ex-co meeting.

Surprisingly, there was no such no confidence motion as anticipated by Minister Tennekoon neither was his letter of resignation tabled. The team, which brought Tennekoon to power, virtually from nowhere, has now broken in to three or more camps, isolating the Minister and his controversial co-ordinating Secretary Karunaratne Samarasinghe, the man who calls himself the CEO of the AASL.

But a senior AASL official said there was no such post and the ex-co has not made any such appointment. Under the circumstances, Samarasinghe came to the athletic headquarters as a Ministerial appointee and tried to throw his political weight around.

The AASL ex-co alleged that the so-called CEO is responsible for the shady airline ticketing deal for the Sri Lanka team for last month's Asian Championship in Korea.

No approval was obtained from the ex-co for the suspicious deal worth over Rs. 2.8 million. Samarasinghe has allegedly told the AASL Treasurer that was an order from Minister Tennekoon and forced him to place his signature.

The people who masterminded that fishy deal were so anxious to get their 'returns' and hurriedly got the cheque payment ready only a day after the team's departure to Incheon,. The AASL normally enjoys a minimum one-month credit period from their usual ticketing agent. While a ticket for the Sri Lanka baseball team, which travelled on the same flight with the athletes, cost only Rs. 55,000/- each, AASL had paid Rs. 62,000/- each for over 45 tickets.

However, when considering the number of tickets compared to the baseball team, travel agent sources said a ticket would only cost around Rs. 52,000/-. Then who pocketed Rs. 10,000/- from each ticket, amounting to nearly half a million rupees?

Irrespective of the mistakes made, one must commend the AASL Ex-co for the courageous decision taken to probe the suspicious ticketing deal. The Ex-co decided to initiate a probe and also to report to the Bribery Commission, if needed.

Minister Tennekoon and his team promised the sun and the moon when they contested the 2005 AASL elections, which was marred my allegations of various irregularities and harassments. During his campaign, Minister Tennekoon promised a four-storeyed building for the AASL, including a hostel for the national poolists, gymnasium, cafeteria, conference/lecture room etc.

They were talking about attracting big sponsors and overseas training scholarships for our athletes. But what happened in the end? They painted a poor picture. The new administration even failed to find a sponsor for the Sri Lanka National championship, the most important meet in the domestic calender.

Forget about the huge promises made, even the basic administration at the AASL is in a total mess. Then how could we think of the welfare and facilities for the athletes?

The AASL Ex-co unanimously condemned their President Tennekoon's request to appoint an interim committee for athletics. It's members unanimously voiced against the unethical call by the President and said such a request by an elected national athletic governing body member is against the rules and regulations of the world body - IAAF. Very true!

The AASL President and his CEO appointee cannot put the blame on the rest of the ex-co members and wash their hands off. It is their collective responsibility. All of them are responsible for what they did and decisions taken over the past seven months.

The ball is in the Sports Minister's court to put things right for the sake of athletics bearing in mind the South Asian Games, to be hosted by Sri Lanka is only six months away.

We believe the Sports Minister would handle things in a democratic way, and safeguard the rights of member clubs and associations.