State patronage for SA Games

Elections to pick Sri Lanka's head of state and Olympic chief were concluded last week. The Presidential election and the general sessions of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) were important to Sri Lanka sports as the two elections had a big impact on Sri Lanka's preparations as the host nation of the 10th South Asian Games.

Congratulations to His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse on his election as Sri Lanka's fifth executive President and to Olympic President Hemasiri Fernando on his re-election. They will now have a key role to play as Sri Lanka gets ready to host the eight-nation Games in April next year.

President Rajapakse will be the chairman of the all-important Steering Committee of the South Asian Games. Having attended the inaugural meeting of the SA Games Steering Committee at Temple Trees several months back, we are aware of the keenness of President Rajapakse to host a successful Games.

President Rajapakse needs no introduction to the sporting world. He had been a versatile sportsman during his day, representing Thurstan at Public Schools athletic meet and Relay Carnival. He also served as the President of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Elle Federation.

He is also a keen rugby fan as his three sons - Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha play for the Thomian first XV team. First lady, Madam Shiranthi Rajapakse, headed the Netball Federation last year.

President Rajapakse has first hand information on the hardships faced by our national athletes. He is a regular visitor to Sports Ministry grounds at Torrington for morning physical fitness workouts and often talks to Sri Lanka athletes, coaches and officials. Hence, President Rajapakse knows exactly the medicine needed to cure the problems in Sri Lanka sports.

On the other hand, President Rajapakse has experience as an able sports administrator and was also a special IOC guest at last year's Olympic games in Athens. Hence, he knows the responsibility and efforts that Sri Lanka has to make as the hosts of the 10th SA Games. Under these circumstances, President Rajapakse has the ability to give a dynamic leadership to Sri Lanka's quest to host the most successful South Asian Games ever.

Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka marksman, Hemasiri Fernando was uncontested for the post of president at the last week's NOC elections. Thus, Fernando could serve his third four-year term, which would extend his stay at the top seat to 12 long years. So was his Secretary General, H.U. Silva.

In the contest for Vice Presidents, Sri Lanka's football ambassador, Manilal Fernando polled the highest number of votes among all six candidates to retain his place. Their re-election would give them a strong backing and confidence to organise the SA Games. The trio have vast experience and strong international relations, which could be combined effectively under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapakse so that we could be the proud host of the next SA Games.

Hosting a multi sport event of this magnitude is a challenge to a third world country like Sri Lanka, for which hosting even Asian Games a dream, forget about a global event like Olympics. Hence, South Asian Games is our version of Olympics and we must make every effort to make it a huge success.

Talking about state patronage for South Asian Games, one cannot forget the important role played by the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa when Sri Lanka successfully hosted the Vth South Asian Games way back in 1991. Even greater contribution by the Government is necessary at this time around.

We are already late in our preparations for the SA Games, which was taken a backseat due to the elections. But we must act quickly now as we are running short of time. The funds promised by the Government must come quickly for the infrastructure development and training of the 19 national pools of respective disciplines.

The State patronage is needed to obtain various services for the Games as well as to attract public and corporate sponsors. At the same time, there should be transparency on the utilization of those huge funds for the success of the Games as well as Sri Lanka sports.

Athletics will be Sri Lanka's best medal prospects, as we cannot expect the same performance from swimming as in 1991. When Sri Lanka last hosted the SA Games 14 years ago, swimming was our No.2 medal winner with 12 golds. Our athletes and swimmers accounted for 27 of the record 44 gold medals won by Sri Lanka.

But with the recent administrative problems in the athletic and swimming national governing bodies, these two sports have been in wilderness. Sri Lanka will be at the receiving end with India making a good build-up. We must put all our resources train our sportsmen and women to go for the gold!