Lanka may lose a swimming gold

SWIMMING: Sri Lanka could lose a certain gold medal even before the commencement of the 10th South Asian Games due to controversial swimming selections, which have been highlighted in media over the last few weeks.

The biggest shock is the omission of promising swimmer Andrew Abeysinghe who is considered as one of the brightest gold medal prospect for Sri Lanka at the eight-nation Games.

Even several swimming officials too admitted that he has a good chance of winning a gold medal but Sri Lanka may now miss that opportunity due to selection disputes.

Teenage sensation Abeysinghe, who is residing in the United States came to Sri Lanka in April last year with the fervent hope of taking part at the Games which were then put off for this year.

He was only 14 years then and was competing at the U-16 Age Group. Training he received in the U.S. was so vast and comprehensive he was able to come out with flying colours in the State, Inter-State and the US National levels.

Since arriving in Sri Lanka he was given the opportunity to take part in several competitions culminating in the Nationals held in October 2005. In every event he took part he came first creating new national records in some of them.

His best and the most remarkable achievement at the Nationals was his ability to shatter the historic record created by former Olympic swimmer Julian Bolling in 1991 and nurtured for 15 years. No other Sri Lankan swimmer has been able to achieve this feat. Julian was one and a half times Abeysinghe's age at the time he created the record.

Since his return to the US in October 2005 after the National Meet in Sri Lanka he continued his training with dedication appearing in every meet within the State, Inter State and Nationals.

He came first in his age group during that season in the USA in 200m backstroke. Abeysinghe has improved his timing in the 200m backstroke and these times surpass times achieved by any swimmer from the Asian countries who took part at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006.

With all these achievements and all the facilities available for training he was having all hopes to come and take part in the SA Games in August this year.

In the meantime, SLASU authorities informed him to present himself for a training course of one week to select prospective participants for the SA Games. The time gap between this programme and the main event is barely three months.

For the benefit of Sri Lanka swimming, the Swimming Association should consider the following facts as the country can not afford to lose a medal prospect.

1. The continuous uninterrupted training he received in the U.S. and his achievements since his return to the U.S. after taking part successfully at the Nationals in October 2005 to date.

2. Sri Lankan swimmers will have to face at the South Asian Games competitors of international standard. It is natural that every country that takes part presents the cream of their sports personnel.

3. He is in his first year in High School. He has already missed 6 weeks of schooling at the beginning of the year due to training in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan National Championship got postponed from September 22 to October 20th 2005.

4. The Final year tests would fall during the last two weeks of May 2006 and he would miss them if he were to attend Sri Lankan trials.

But Nethru Nanayakkara of the SLASU said they have to be firm on the selection criteria. "We stated that the participation of the trials is a must. Hence, we have to maintain that," he said. But Nanayakkara admitted that Abeysinghe is a talented player and that they could accept his performance.

"He is a talented swimmer and is a gold medal prospect. We can accept his performance and he is capable of those. But as a responsible Association, we have to stick to our original selection criteria," he said.

Nanayakkara said if they grant special permission and include him in the team, there will be a few more swimmers in the team who would seek similar exemptions. "Then it will be unfair by the swimmers who took part at the trials and finished on top," he said.

But the union has not always followed such criteria before.

In 1991 Julian Bolling came directly to SAF games from the USA bypassing the trials.

The 2006 Commonwealth Games had Arun Karunaratne and Stefan Lee represent Sri Lanka based on times they have achieved while training in Australia. Neither one of these swimmers have swum in Sri Lanka in nearly 2 years.