Good, but not good enough

It's a little over two months to go for the biggest ever sporting event ever to be hosted by Sri Lanka. The tenth edition of the South Asian Games will be unveiled at Colombo's Sugathadasa Stadium in 64 days time.

Where do we stand as the host nation? Have our national poolists made adequate preparations? Could we be satisfied with the arrangements we have made to upgrade the venues and the overall progress of the Organising Committee?

Various views have been expressed on the above matters over the last few months, especially during the last couple of weeks. On a few occasions in this column, we too have highlighted several issues connected to the preparations. Things have changed and are heading towards the right direction.

However, our overall answer to the above questions is; "Good, but not good enough". Just for the sake of satisfying a few individuals, we cannot hide the truth and paint a rosy picture. If we do that, it's not only the very same persons but the whole country that would feel ashamed in case things don't go according to expectations.

One thing is for sure, that there is a dynamic leadership to the Steering Committee and the Organising Committee in President Mahinda Rajapakse and Olympic chief Hemasiri Fernando. Under the guidance of the sports loving President, the NOC President is working tirelessly to make sure the organisational mechanism functions smoothly.

But we need a few energetic persons like Fernando to make sure that we host the best ever South Asian Games. Hence, at least a handful of people in the sub committees should come out with a greater dedication and vision to support Fernando and his team. Though there have been a few weak links in some of the sub committees, we should be able to overcome all those problems, if everybody puts in the maximum effort in the coming two months.

As the Sports Ministry Secretary, S. Viritamulla quite rightly stated during a recent workshop on the SA Games, all inactive officials should be removed and their places should go to dedicated officials who could work hard with dedication and devotion. Viritamulla said only such a move would help our organisers to work hard for the success of the Games.

Even the NOC President Fernando has emphasised on the importance of dedication, especially in the officials in the Government Service who would lend a helping hand to the Games organisers.

Though it would have been better if we had started training of our 20 national pools for the Games right from January, things are going on in a satisfactory manner at the 20 NSAs fielding teams for the Sri Lanka contingent of the SA Games. But many poolists have their own problems. Especially, our senior athletes are not too happy with the facilities they get.

There again, we cannot satisfy each and every individual. However, if we have a better mechanism to channel funds allocated for training and a central authority to monitor it in a transparent manner, we could make the best use of the investment.

The artificial athletic track at Sugathadasa Stadium is to be renovated before the end of next month. A big question mark hangs on proposed electronic scoreboards at the main venue. The organisers plan either to purchase or hire.

It would be better in the long run to purchase a suitable electronic screen so that the venue could be promoted as a regular athletic destination in future too.

We cannot be too happy with the overall conditions of the venues when talking of an international sporting event of this magnitude. A few such shortcomings were highlighted when the Sports Minister made a surprise inspection tour recently.

On the other hand, we can not expect a harvest without an investment. Hence, the progress of the national poolists and facilities they get should be carefully monitored on a regular basis. Proper nutrition and dieting is a must to build a good sportsman.

We must also look into both the physical and mental conditions of our sportsmen and women so that they could be in a better frame of mind and in a good physical condition to deliver the goods.

We highlighted the above facts in good faith, not to hurt anyone or to underestimate the contributions of the organisers and sub committees, but to give a little 'push' to strengthen our preparations. It's good to discuss those here and find remedies to shortcomings, rather than go 'international' and feel ashamed once the Games start.

We have the men and material to host the best ever Games, but there should be greater dedication and commitment. Let's rally round under the Lion flag and work tirelessly to make our country proud in the international sports arena. We could go for that goal!