The players make us proud, the administration makes us ashamed.
Sri Lankan sports administration is generally appalling, but it seems especially bad that none of our athletes in London were able to bring coaches. Instead 30 assorted ‘officials’ went, which is of limited use. Shooter Mangala Samarakoon is saying he could have used a coach there, and one could presume the same for badminton player Niluka Karunaratna. It’s really quite depressing that we treat our sports and sportspeople so badly.
Take Susanthika Jayasinghe, who won a silver medal in 2000. She then alleged that Minister S.B. Dissanayake tried to harass and threaten her for sex. Or take cricket, our flagship sport. The cricket board spends money on itself and goes months (almost years) without playing the players. Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga doles out cricket contracts to a TV station he heads and equipment supplier he owns. It’s pretty sick.
The president’s son’s girlfriend runs that TV station, and he’s also captain of the national rugby team (though the sons are actually pretty good at the sport). That’s the least egregious thing going on, but it’s still not good.
I’ve been hearing commenters here saying that our Olympic team was hobbled by lack of coaches (which other countries bring) but I didn’t think our sports administration would be SOOO bad. But apparently they are. Sin.
The sad thing is no one, opposition or media, is raising this question.. I was very surprised to learn that no coach went, while 30 officials were on this contingent… I think the media probably did know about this before the tour… When are we at least start going in the right direction…?
You seem to be under the delusion that the govt is not going in the ‘right direction’. They are going in the right direction, the right direction for them. :) Who would want to miss a free trip to London, together with family and friends? The Olympics are just an excuse.
Of course, if someone wins something, so much the better, because then they (the politicans) can get some free publicity.
I think the UNP’s Gayatha Karunatilleke did raise this issue of the number of officials who went for just 7 Olympians. See http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=58074
However, I haven’t seen anyone in the media challenge Aluthgamage or the Sri Lankan Olympic authorities about this.
We, the Sri Lanka taxpayers are paying for Rajapaksa Government goons “free trips ” to London Olympics.
Yes, but who voted these people in? The taxpayer?
Correction about president’s sons rugby ability. as a fan of the game and a follower for the last decade or more, Only Namal plays above average rugby. Yoshitha is very very average. Rohitha – is OK. may be a bit above average, but he doesn’t play often. Yoshitha – should not be in the national side. him captaining it is out of the question!! there are far more talented guys to lead the team than Y.Rajapakse. Out of the 3 kids, only Namal deserves to be in the national squad. but i am not sure if he should be in the 1st XV but for the hooker position he plays.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19181283
Hey,
just read this on BBC. And I am horrified.
First I was critical of Sri Lanka’s players, thinking that they could have done better. But now after reading this (and confirming that it is true), I now realise that their hands are tied. Apparently they appealed for their coaches to be present to no avail.
This government keeps on surprising me with how low it can go. To think they were trying so hard to get the Commonwealth Games held here – but what is the point, if this is how they treat their players.
I am just watching the Long Jump Finals now, and after each jump, the athletes rush to their coaches for advice. During their event. This is the treatment that other players enjoy.
Shame Sri Lanka Shame.
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The Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee Maxwell de Silva rejected the accusation of the Lankan contingent is without any coaches for their athletic contingent.
De Silva explaining matters to TimesOnline said “The Lankan contingent had only two qualified athletes for the 2012 London Olympics. First, Niluka Karunaratne the team captain who qualified, clearly wanted his manager Rohan de Silva with him and the slot of Niluka’s coach went to him. The other qualified athlete is the Marathon runner Anuradha Indrajith Cooray. Cooray who had his pre-Olympic training in England will have his British coach Nick Taylor with him on the 12th and they are working together even now.”
The NOC Secretary General further explained that all coaching slots had to be nominated to the IOC by March and at that juncture none of the other athletes had qualified, and as they were ‘wild cards’ and were accredited at the latter stages the time slot for their coaches had lapsed.
Maxwell de Silva also said that though there is an accusation that none of the newly appointed AAASL members made the trip to London Real Admiral Shemal Fernando who is the manager of Athletics and Rifle Shooting is the secretary of the newly elected Amateur Athletic association of Sri Lanka.
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Oh why not state this earlier then? Like inform us on news that only 2 Sri Lankan’s have qualified and the other 5 are wildcards who therefore need no support from coaches. Still does not justify the high official count.
These comments were not made by me and seem to be from a writer who is using my identity rather than his own name. I would like to request the writer to use his real name or a pseudonym instead of using my name.