Lanka looking for the flag bearers

Sports

Junior Olympics in Singapore in 2010
Lanka looking for the flag bearers

By S.R. Pathiravithana

With the gradual moving out of the athletic old brigade the track and field bosses in Sri Lanka are in an intensified search for the next generation of champions who will carry the Lankan torch forward.
Sri Lanka did make its mark at the last Commonwealth Junior Games in June late last year by taking away the most coveted 100 and 200metre boys sprint events and the 4 x 100 relay event, however that was largely due to the individual talent of “new kid in town” Shehan Ambepitiya.

Shehan Ambepitiya

The next big event in the junior athletics calendar is the Junior Olympics which will be held in Singapore in June 2010. With a general atmosphere quite akin to Sri Lanka, many believe that this also would be a good ground for the young Lankans to exploit.Elaborating on the subject The Lankan athletic chief Hemasiri Fernando told The Sunday Times since this event comprised athletes under the age group of under 17, he has written to the Ministry of Education to look into the matter seriously as the ‘call of the day’ is very serious.

Sri Lanka needs the next lot of champions on a very urgent basis. Olympic boss Fernando in this regard said “The first step in this will be the participation of the Asian Junior Athletics Championships that will be held at the same venue in June this year. The same contingent who will take part in this championship in June this year will also take part at the Junior Olympics next year too.

“We have requested the Ministry of Education to assist us and the ministry will work with the AASL to the first round of selections in end of April. Once the preliminary selections are done those will be handed over to the national selectors for their scrutiny. Once National selectors are satisfied with the process the names will be sent to the Minister of Sports for ratification”.

Explaining the AASL part in this its secretary Prema Pinnawela said “Since school children are involved in this process, the selection trials will have to be held on a school day. Since by the 28th of April all schools will be opened we have arranged the selections to be held on 28th April at the Sugathadasa Stadium, and added this is a very important event for as this will be the probable contingent who will service the Sri Lankan athletic cause at least for the very near future. We have seen how countries like Jamaica are preparing for these games. You must see how seriously that those people have taken the Junior Olympics, so we also must take these events serious and take earnest interest to build our next generation of athletes.”

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