Susanthika, Dharsha and a huge slide in talent
View(s):Since the retirement of Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Dharsha, Sri Lanka has been hard-pressed to find a strong female force in the sport of athletics to adequately challenge international opposition. The Sunday Times turned to the public this week to discover the factors dictating this dearth.
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 You can’t say that there aren’t any female athletes around. Maybe there are really good athletes staying outside Colombo, coaches must go and stay there. We are just training athletes from Colombo. After the school level, athletes leave the sport.- Ananda Athukorala (Athletics coach) |
 The problem is that the standards of female athletes have gone down. In rural areas they have a lot of talent but the problem is that they are very poor. So if they come to the city their talent can be identified and they can be properly trained. All the facilities are in Colombo. - Badra Gunawardena (Renowned past athlete and coach) |
 They have talent but certain environmental factors hold them back. Being a woman, you can’t go out late in the evening.There are cultural barriers. Occasionally there are women willing to break them and they go to the top. - Dr. Lal Ekanayake (Doctor of Sports Medicine) |
 Susanthika ran with her natural talent, the thing is no-one has that kind of talent. Dhanushka Karunaratne (400m runner) |
 Politicians only push forward their supporters and favourites. So, rural athletes and those unconnected don’t have a chance to progress. There are no grounds, coaches or facilities in villages. Colombo athletes don’t give a chance to rural athletes because if rural athletes come here and perform well then they (Colombo athletes) don’t have a chance. - Kasun Tharaka (Student) |
 After Susanthika and Dharsha the standard of athletics began to fall and former authorities were not enthusiastic enough with their support. Now things are improving and with this atmosphere we can think about the future. However, the present resources for a national athlete are insufficient. Among us there is no-one from Colombo. In here we are practicing a lot but we are thinking about our family problems. Poverty is the main thing; we can’t even afford a bicycle. A lot of athletes give up because of this and have already left Sri Lanka. Susanthika had a lot of ability and because of this she got a lot of facilities but there athletes today who also have that ability. - Padmakumari (National pool athlete) |
 Athletes from the villages don’t have facilities. We also had that kind of problem. I’m also from outstation school and in our time one of my teachers pushed me to do sports and come up. Compared with other countries we don’t have sufficient facilities and the governing body doesn’t have a proper plan. Even now they don’t look after our athletes well. - Rangana Harsha (Student) |
 Right now I have reached a point in my sports career where I am looking to stop but earlier on I used to run with Susanthika and Darsha. At that time they used to come first and I used to be among those who came second. During that period only those who grabbed the top spots were looked at. I won silver at the Asian Games but no consideration is given to those who are a level below athletes like Susanthika. Even now we face a lot of difficulties while training. - Sujani Buddhika (Top national 200 meter sprinter) |
 Female athletes are treated well by governing bodies because facilities such as grounds, stadiums and coaching are easily available. The thing is that nowadays people are only interested in education and that is why there is less interest in sports, resulting in lower quality sportswomen. - A.C Tennekoon (Rugby referee) |
 Susanthika is from a rural area. Athletes from these regions have a lot of talent but do not have enough opportunities. I am also from an area outside Colombo and my daughters are very talented but they too do not have a chance to show their talent. - S. Wijesinghe (Security officer) |
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