by Reemus Fernando

When the former national record holder in the men’s javelin throw, Sachith Maduranga suddenly announced a premature retirement from athletics he said that he was ‘thoroughly disappointed the way higher authorities managed the sports affairs of the country.’ He was just 23 and had an Asian Athletics Championship medal and a national record against his name. His best performance was good enough to earn Olympic qualification by then standards. Eight years after the former Army athlete quit, country’s top throwers are probably experiencing the same predicament. The only difference is that they are not venting their frustration the way Maduranga did.

Waruna Lakshan and Sumedha Ranasinghe have both thrown distances further than Maduranga and are throwers who are good enough to challenge counterparts from other countries who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics which is starting in a couple of weeks.

The two leading national throwers were ranked among the top 100 athletes in the world by December 2020. The national record holder and Rio Olympic participant Sumedha Ranasinghe was ranked 30th in the world while Waruna Lakshan was ranked 75th in the world then. It should be noted here that both Ranasinghe (83.04m) and Lakshan (82.19m) have some outstanding feats as their personal best performances.

By the time the qualifying period for the Tokyo Olympics ended on June 29, Ranasinghe had been ranked 45th in the Road to Olympic Rankings. Between December 2020 to June 2021 the two throwers had only the local competitions to take part. Ranasinghe got an opportunity to take part in the 60th Interstate Athletics Championship in the eleventh hour. The more than 30 hour long journey had taken its toll on Sumedha when he finally took the javelin in Patiala. Despite that he reached his seasonal best of 77.28 metres on the last day of the qualifying period. Waruna who too was to compete in India was axed from the team after authorities put pressure on Sri Lanka Athletics to reduce numbers.

When Waruna competed last in May at the Sugathadasa Stadium he had just received the first jab of the vaccine and was feeling ill. Yet he threw the javelin to a distance of 75.91 metres. While their counterparts in other countries took part in quality competitions country’s top athletes seeking Olympic qualification did not get that opportunity.

The present day qualifying standards for Olympics are tough but they are achievable if proper competition opportunities are made available to compensate systematic training. Italy based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon could obtain a world ranking quota for Olympics due to the top grade competitions he took part in. He needed just one good Diamond League performance to break into the higher echelon of world rankings.

It is incumbent upon authorities to make these competitions available to local athletes who strive to achieve top rankings. Otherwise they would be leaving room for athletes to feel the same disappointment felt by Maduranga eight years ago.

As Maduranga said in his last press conference in 2013, the problem is not the absence of talent.