by Reemus Fernando

The historic achievement of track and field athletes at the recently held Asian Athletics Championships is still causing ripples across the sporting arena. From Tharushi Karunaratne’s record-breaking 800 metres triumph to men’s 4×400 metres relay team’s heroics are being appreciated by all and sundry. The medal winners have been rightly rewarded with the support of the cooperate sector. However the untiring efforts of the true heroes, the medal-producing coaches have gone unrewarded.

The achievement in Thailand was not a miracle. From planting the seeds of belief in these athletes years before they even realized their true potential to peaking them at the right moment to win medals there had been many untold responsibilities undertaken by their respective coaches. The medals were the result of years of hard work and planning by the coaches. The veteran athletes who won medals had been training under these coaches for years. Even during times when no one dared to take up sports. When the country’s sports hierarchy went into a deep slumber during the corona-induced lockdown periods and when even some of their fellow athletes abandoned all hope during the economic crisis these dedicated coaches had motivated their athletes to persevere in their respective disciplines.

In Sri Lanka, the coach’s job goes beyond the boundaries of the playground.  It is the coaches who identify the true potential of the athlete, educate their parents of the future potential and even take care of the various needs of the athletes. It should be stated here that a vast majority of the country’s track and field athletes come from not so well to do families. Training such athletes for highly demanding events is no easy task.

The gold-winning 400 metres sprinter Nadeesha Ramanayake was a sixth-place finisher in a 3,000 metres race when she first took part in a Junior National Championship. It was no easy task to introduce and train an athlete who had not won at the junior level a discipline once dominated by a legend like Damayanthi Dharsha. Hadn’t Muddika Thushara identified Ramanayake’s potential at Weeraketiya a decade ago Sri Lanka would not have ended more than two decades of wait for an individual 400 metres gold at the Asian Championship last month.

Sajith Jayalal had been a great source of strength to double bronze medallist Gayanthika Abeyratne for more than a decade. In a sport where rewards are hard to come by just persevering for over a decade in itself is worthy of being rewarded. Had Jayalal decided to be in the comfort of his office at the National Institute of Sports Sciences without parting his knowledge, the likes of Gayanthika and the dozens of athletes from the tri forces would have either given up the sport or be producing substandard performances.

Has any administrator in the Sports Ministry or the Ministry of Education or any other authority ever appreciated Susantha Fernando’s contribution to athletics? Has he ever been appreciated for the many medallists he has produced for Sri Lanka at Asian Youth Championships, Asian Junior Championships, Asian Championships, South Asian Games or open championships? His trainees have gone on to own almost all age category 800 metres national records. Has there been any appreciation at the national level for the yeoman service he has rendered for decades at Ratnayake Central Walala? Tharushi Karunaratne would have given up track and field sport after the ordeal she had to go through at Digana and the unpleasant experience she had to face due to the faux pas in the run-up to the Junior World Championships last year. If not for the mediation of Fernando, Tharushi would have hung up her spikes before her schooldays were over.

Pradeep Nishantha who trains Dilhani Lekamge (bronze medallist of the women’s javelin throw) is the coach to many leading throwers of the country including Paralympics medallists. His guidance has changed the lives of many athletes.

Aruna Dharshana’s journey from Seruwila to Akuramboda would have been meaningless hadn’t Asanka Rajakaruna gone out of his way to help the budding athlete. Many appreciated the performances of Dharshana when he returned from Gifu with the Asian Junior Championship record against his name in 2018. Except the coach not many were behind him when he could not replicate such performances in the immediate aftermath. Sri Lanka may not have won an individual medal in the men’s 400 metres but the men’s 4×400 metres team inclusive of Dharshana were able to create history in Thailand and their time produced to win the relay gold stands as one of the best performances of the globe this year. The other coaches of the men’s relay team members namely Vimukthi de Soyza (Kalinga Kumarage), Daminda Bandara (Pasindu Kodikara), S.P.D. Silva (Pabasara Niku), Harijan Rathnayake (Rajitha Rajakaruna) and Ravindu Theekshana and Anuradha Nanayakkara who train women’s relay team members Nishendra Fernando and Lakshima Mendis respectively have similar stories behind the medal-winning heroics.

Sri Lanka’s track and field owes its success to the many coaches who toil from dawn to dusk to hone the skills of their charges. A vast majority of them do a voluntary job. Hence the coaching fraternity well aware of the service they render were shocked when the medal-winning coaches had to return home empty-handed from a recently held function where their charges were rewarded with handsome cash awards for the medals they won at the Asian Athletics Championships.

 Years ago the Ministry of Sports introduced a scheme to reward coaches when their athletes win international medals. What the track and field athletes achieved last month in Thailand was a historic accomplishment which deserves sports ministry backing. The Sports Ministry is yet to act more than two weeks after the athletes had returned home. Having provided their services free of charge these coaches may not ask for cash rewards but it is incumbent upon authorities to reward them appropriately. That will be a huge morale boost for the rest of the coaching fraternity.

The Country’s Sports hierarchy has failed to capitalize on historic track and field achievements be it Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe’s triumphs at the World level or the epic sub ten seconds 100 metres dash of Italy-based sprinter Yupun Abeykoon. What will be the legacy of the historic Asian Championship triumph?