Sports Ministry delay puts Korea bound athletics team in a quandary  

Junior National Track and Field team leave without originally selected officials  

by Reemus Fernando   

Sri Lanka Under 20 team for the Asian Junior Athletics Championships left the country without the originally selected Team Manager and the Lady Chaperon after the Sports Ministry vetoed the officials selected by Sri Lanka Athletics and delayed the team approval till the eleventh hour.

The eight-member team received the Sports Ministry approval by midday Tuesday just hours ahead of their scheduled departure to Yecheon, South Korea.

The Sports Ministry did not grant permission to the Team Manager and the Lady Chaperon selected by Sri Lanka Athletics putting the athletics administration in a quandary.

It is a prerequisite to have a lady teacher affiliated to the Ministry of Education selected in the team to receive the approval of authorities when there are school girls touring. Sri Lanka Athletics followed the protocol and selected Sunethra Karunanayake, the respected coach and teacher who has produced a number of athletes to represent Sri Lanka in recent times as the Lady Chaperon. As required, she received the approval of the Ministry of Education as well. The Sports Ministry, instead, had picked one of their Sports Officers who has an athlete selected in the touring team as the Lady Chaperon.

Sri Lanka Athletics which had been at the receiving end of the Sports Ministry bungling during recent times had applied for visas and had booked tickets pending Ministry approval to avoid last-minute disappointments. It was not long ago that the athletics governing body received criticism when a couple of athletes could not make it to the World Junior Championships in time due to delays in getting approval and funds for tickets.

Saman Kumara, the secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics said that the athletics administration was hoping to get the approval of the Sports Ministry even at the eleventh hour for the originally selected Manager and the Lady Chaperon to travel with the team. Sadly, with that failing, Karunanayake, who had travelled all the way from Kurunegala to Colombo, had to return home without accompanying the athletes to South Korea on Tuesday.

Sources said that the Sports Ministry had failed to communicate with the athletics administration regarding the changes they had made to the touring team.

Veteran coach Susantha Fernando who has two of his trainees picked in the team was selected by Sri Lanka Athletics to function as the team coach. Now he has been entrusted with the manager duties as well.

Sri Lanka Athletics had sent the names of officials and selected athletes for Sports Ministry approval by May 15, although the latter had taken more than two weeks to grant permission.

With the Sports Ministry not granting funds for junior athletes to represent Sri Lanka this year, Sri Lanka Athletics has used its own funds or the funds collected from benefactors and athletes to honour their international obligations.

The biennial Asian Junior Athletics Championships is a major track and field competition taken part by Sri Lanka. The country has fared well at these championships in recent times. The leading national 400 metres sprinter Aruna Dharshana holds the championship record in the 400 metres, while the women’s 100 metres and 200 metres records of the Championship held by Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Dharsha have remained unchanged for nearly three decades.

Sri Lanka Athletics picked a team of eight athletes, five who reached locally set qualifying standards and three others who came almost close to reaching the standards for the event starting on Sunday.

Kahawatta Central Triple Jumper Malith Yasiru, St. Aloysius’ College, Ratnapura hurdler Vinod Ariyawansa (400m hurdles), Ratnayake Central, Walala runner Tharushi Karunaratne (400m, 800m), sprinter Jayeshi Uththara (400m) and Dharmapala College, Pannipitiya high jumper Pehansa Gamage were the athletes who reached qualifying standards for the Asian event.

Gateway College, sprinter Dinara Bandara Dela (100m), Ananda College sprinter Merone Wijesinghe (100m) and Ratnayake Central middle distance runner Shehan Dilranga (800m, 1500m) were included in the team after they produced outstanding feats to merit selection at the recently held Junior National Athletics Championships.