‘Vision Sri Lanka’ launched

BERNARD PERERA

The Vision Sri Lanka program, the 13th segment of the Vision Asia was launched yesterday at the Football House auditorium. The Asia Vision project, a concept of President of the Asian Football Confederation has spread to eleven Asian countries, said Brendan Menton, head of the delegation, who are in Sri Lanka for the launching ceremony.

Brendan addressed the gathering consisting of all officials from FFSL leagues, schools and referees to explain the projects intentions to develop the game of soccer here under this program.

He said AFC President Bin Hamman’s vision is to see the Asian region reach the top spot in the world in the future. With this intention he initiated the program in Bahrain, B’desh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Vietnam and Thailand. The new addition to this list are Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankans must pay all their credit to Manilal Fernando the Senior Vice President of the AFC and Chairman, Management Committee, FFSL, for negotiating in a creditable stance to win the program for Sri Lanka. He has worked hard with his officials in presenting a very appreciative bid for this, said Brendan.

Speaking further, he said, on arrival, he came to know about the ongoing youth programs here. This is the first step to promote the game. We are here to assess the ongoing programs and to educate the officials concerned in different fields in the sports. He said the Vision Asia project consists of eleven elements. If we are to reach the required goals all these elements need great care taken by all involved in the sport, said Brendan.

He paid a glowing tribute to the Football Federation for having a close link with the Ministry of Sports and the Schools Association. With these two joining hands a good future for the sport can be achieved, added Brendan.

He said his team on tour will educate administrators, coaches, referees, and also the conducting of club tournaments.

The tour party is studded with qualified personnel John David (Director, Asia Vision) for grass roots level and youth development), Ali Targhqlizadeh (Coach, Education), Yogesh Desai (Club Competition), Ameez Mohamed (Referees Education), Imtiaz Rehman (Director, Asia Vision). These personnel will conduct sessions till Friday to educate them on matters connected with the program for the development of the sport.

He also said that Sri Lanka Football Federation is blessed with a fine house for its functions in addition to many training centres all round the island which came up with the help of FIFA projects. With these in store, things will be easy to handle, said Brendan. On return they will submit a report on the findings and also said that they hope to make few more visits to evaluate the progress of the projects.

Hurley Silveira, President, FFSL, D. B. Dahanayake, Secretary, Ministry of Sports Development, Rev. Bro. Granville Perera, President Schools FA, Hafiz Marikar, Secretary General, FFSL, Manilal Fernando, Chairman, Management Committee FFSL, Chryshantha Perera, CEO, FFSL and L. K. Jayaweera, Secretary, SLSFA were among the guests.