No grooming of athletes

Sri Lanka is due to field contingents for the forthcoming South Asian Games in Bangladesh and the 2010 Asian Games in China. Both these multisport events are of utmost importance for countries in the subcontinent and these are the stepping stone for sportsmen and women in Asia to make it to the big league.

The South Asian Games and Asian Games are of great significance for Sri Lanka as these are the regional sporting events which would enable us to test our future Olympic prospects and groom them for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

From the national level, the first step towards the international arena for sportsmen and women in the subcontinent is the South Asian Games. The budding sportsmen and women could test their talents at South Asian level and the most outstanding medalists could earn a place for the Asian Games. If they excel at Asian level, they could book their passage for the Olympics - a dream of any sports personality.

But what have we done in making preparations for the South Asian Games and Asian Games? Virtually nothing! It’s less than a year to go for the South Asian Games in Dhaka. We are less than ten months away from the 2010 Asian Games in China - the Asian version of the Olympics. Though we are approaching two of the biggest regional sporting events, Sri Lanka has not initiated any preparations for these two mega events.

Olympiad in Beijing

Our Olympic level sportsmen and women have been idling since the 2008 Olympiad in Beijing. It has been more than six months since the Beijing 2008 Games but no one has shown any interest on the future prospects of the Olympic contingent. True that all who made it to the last Olympics would not be able to make it to the 2012 London Olympics. But we must give every opportunity to the youngsters in that contingent and groom them for the future.

The Sports Ministry promised to grant financial assistance to the top most national poolists at Olympic level. Not only the Olympians but also the medal prospects at South Asian and Asian level should be given all encouragement to sharpen their skills. But no one has showed any interest in lending a helping hand to our budding sportsmen and women.

Swimmer Mayumi Raheem is training in Singapore since she lives there with her family. Sri Lanka’s golden girl at the last South Asian Games with a record ten medals, will definitely better that record in Dhaka. But what about the talented sportsmen and sportswomen who are training here? As I have emphasised before, since the last Olympics, our future medal prospects are a forgotten lot.

Shuttler Thilini Jayasinghe created history by becoming the first Sri Lankan female to compete in badminton in the history of the Olympic Games. Considering her age, technique and style, the 23-year-old lass from the hill capital could definitely take Sri Lanka badminton to a better place in the Asian arena. But she has now been compelled to find her own finances to maintain her training. Jayasinghe’s case is not the only one as several other Olympians, including weightlifter Chinthana Vidanage do not get any sponsorship or financial grants from the Sports Ministry after the Olympic Games.

Vidanage, that promising lad from Polonnaruwa made Sri Lanka proud at the last South Asian Games with a gold medal. He achieved the most memorable moment of his career when he bagged a gold medal in the men’s 69kg event at the last Commonwealth Games. Definitely, Vidanage is the hot favourite in his event at the next South Asian Games. Doesn’t the poor lad deserve better treatment and recognition to pursue his sporting career?

Perhaps the Sports Ministry must be waiting until the last minute to grant financial assistance. That is the time our officials dream of joy rides. Over the years, hundreds of Sports Ministry officials have made it to the South Asian Games, Asian Games and Olympics.

Gain experience

In there own words, these officials at the Sports Ministry and even from the Provincial Sports Ministries and National Sports Associations, are sent to enhance knowledge and gain experience to administer sports in a more meaningful manner. They are sent to gain experience and find out how these events are organised and how the top sportsmen and women train and compete. But has a single official given back something in return?

I wonder whether any sports officials has utilised such overseas experience and ‘enhanced knowledge’ for the betterment of Sri Lanka sport. It is the duty of the officials who make it to the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games as observers and team delegates to make sufficient recommendations to the Sports Minister and implement long-term plans to groom our future sportsmen and women.

But most of our sports officials are used to eleventh hour selections and instant training schedules. We have repeatedly emphasised the fact that there are no shortcuts to produce champions. They can’t achieve overnight Olympic glory. All those who climb the victory podium at the Olympic Games qualify for such rare honour after years of dedicated training, immense sacrifices and total dedication.

Unfortunately we still have officials who believe in instant training. Knowingly or not they think that we could produce medalists if we train for a couple of months. Is this the first hand experience and knowledge they have gained by making joy rides to international sports events?

In the name of Sri Lanka sport, we make a humble request to the Sports Minister to immediately start national level training for the South Asian Games and Asian Games. We earnestly believe that he would soon direct his officials to Sri Lanka super pools and grant financial assistance to budding sportsmen and women.