TT needs sponsors and more stadia - Lalith Priyantha

Anuradha ABEYSEKERA

As Sri Lanka is preparing for 2018 Commonwealth Games, Table Tennis is one of the 15 sports to be developed, aiming medals at the 2018 big event. Daily News recently contacted four-time national TT champion and veteran coach Lalith Priyantha who has been in the Sri Lankan TT scene for over 50 years as a player, coach and an administrator.

What is Sri Lanka's international standard in TT?

At present we are only second to strong India in the South Asian region. Sri Lanka was lagging behind during 80's and being experienced a healthy improvement since then to emerge second best in South Asia. Our juniors are on par with the highest international standards but they do not maintain it to the senior level.

What are the reasons for us to retreat in the senior level international scene ?

There are many. Mainly due to lack of international exposure. For instance, Asian Championship, World Championship, SAFF and Commonwealth tournaments are the main international events that Sri Lanka is taking part. But annually Indian players participate in more than 10 major tournaments.

What is the role of the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) and do they do a fair job to develop the sport ?

As the governing body of the sport TTASL is doing a commendable duty with minimum facilities on hands. Without their own stadium and office premises, they still conduct all the annual tournaments, especially for juniors. Mainly TTASL depend on the availability of S. Thomas' Indoor Stadium to host a tournament in Colombo and face great difficulties to work out their annual calender. Though they now have the Jagath Rajapaksa Stadium in Kandy, it is also a private property and built away from Colombo. TTASL must have a fully equipped TT stadium and their own office near Colombo to work on a long term programme which will produce world class players in future.

It has also resulted in irregularities in pool practices as well. It is only for the SAAF Games we have six months pool practices. But for most tournaments we have a very short preparation period about one and half months, which is not sufficient. Even for the next SAAF tournament in February, we have not yet started pool practices. We have to have residential practices where TTASL can look after the players constantly prior to major international tournaments.

Recently TTASL has decided to distribute 1500 TT tables island-wide and conducted a trainers' training programme before they distribute the tables. This will be a big step forward in popularizing the sport through out the country.

Why our talented youngsters go astray in their careers as they get into senior level ?

Mainly due to our education system they have to break their sporting careers at several stages, giving priority to year five scholarship, O/L and A/L exams. In other developed countries, once a talent is identified they have a strong system to groom that talent into full bloom with a sporting career. But here except for cricket that system has not been implemented. If a TT player does not achieve good results in those major exams he or she will not be able to find a good job. So they naturally either quit or break their TT careers when they are to face exams. Even the senior players have lot of family or job commitments where they have to compromise with the sporting career.

What can Government and Sports Ministry do for the betterment of TT ?

Quite a lot. First, TTASL must be given a quality training facility and office premises in Colombo. Sports Ministry have to help in finding a permanent sponsorship for national TT. During late 90's with the help of former Police DIG Cyril Herath we had National Savings Bank as our main sponsor, but since then TTASL had to find sponsors randomly tournament by tournament. A long term national sponsorship is a must to develop the sport.

Policies must be implemented by the Government to look after National level sports personnel in a similar manner regardless of their sport. There is a big difference in many aspects between a national cricketer and a national paddler in Sri Lanka. Government can help to reduce this gap. For instance being a National Champion and a Sri Lanka captain I have participated in more than 25 international tournaments in 13 years and still living in a rented house. But if I were a national cricketer with such a career, the story would have been totally different.

Recently Government offered some employment opportunities for talented TT players in the three Forces. This is a great initiative by the Government and a clear recognition for the sport. The results will surely be fruitful as all those players are working hard much more dedicatedly to the sport.

Sports law should also be amended, focusing the well being and development of the sports. For an example our sports law does not allow coaches to be in the National Selecting Committees (NSC). It has resulted some NSC's to include many selectors who are not familiar with the respective sport, which can have a destructive impact on national selections. Being a coach, I am not telling this on a personal ground, but the fact remains that most of top level players with a passion for their sport obviously take up to coaching at the end of their playing career. They do not want to quit the sport they really love.

And coaches are the best to select talents. This law must be revised as it obstructs the services of most capable and suitable people in national selections, which directly affects the standards of the National teams.