The present level of Athletics in the country has declined. Unless immediate steps are taken to remedy this situation it would deteriorated further and it would be too late to arrest the alarming drop in the standards — warned Sri Lankan short distant coach and one time Asian champion Sunil Gunawardena. Sunil Gunawardena who is [...]

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The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Sunil on declining athletic standards

By Bandula Molligoda
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The present level of Athletics in the country has declined. Unless immediate steps are taken to remedy this situation it would deteriorated further and it would be too late to arrest the alarming drop in the standards — warned Sri Lankan short distant coach and one time Asian champion Sunil Gunawardena.

Sunil Gunawardena who is currently the best short distance coach now in the country claimed that this alarming decline was due to certain sports ministers and high ranking ministry officials. He flatly blames them for this deterioration.

He pointed out that earlier before year 2000 Sri Lanka produced eminent world ranking athletes among them are Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Dharsha, Sriyani Kulawansa, Sugath Thillakaratne, Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Prasanna Amarasekera, Ranga Wimalawansa, Mahesh Perera, Pradeepa Herath and Asoka Jayasundera.

All these athletes except Susanthika Jayasinghe and Sugath Thillakaratne were coached by Sunil Gunawardena. He says golden era of athletics was during 1994 to 2000.

He says, there was a well planned system adopted to get the talented athletes from rural areas and placed them in an Olympic pool. They were provided suitable accommodation and not only they were trained adequately but also were well fed and nourished. They were also provided with necessary Vitamins and other medical advice and sufficient allowance to meet other needs.
Due to such well planned arrangements the country was able to produce even Asian gold Medalists and Commonwealth games champions. The setting of such a pool enabled Susanthika Jayasinghe to bring glory to the country winning a Silver medal in Sydney Olympics in 2000. Even others who were in the pool with Susanthika, easily qualified to participate in their respective events at the Olympics, Gunawardena said.

Now the situation of athletics in the country has dropped to low and pathetic levels.

Sunil Gunawardena (above) pointed out that athletic officials should focus to produce stars in the ranks of Susanthika Jayasinghe

Sunil Gunawardena further lamented that due to the present situation our present athletes will not be fit even to represent the country at Asian or SAF levels.

Gunawardena is currently the Director- General of Higher Education (Sports). He represented Sri Lanka in athletics in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in 200 Meters, clocking 21.31 secs, which was an Asian record.

In 1974 at Teheran Asian games he represent the country in the 4 x 400 relay team which won the gold medal with a new record.
The other participants in this relay team were W. Wimaladasa, A.A. Premachandra and Kosala Sahabandu.

Earlier during his school career at St. Mary’s Chilaw he excelled in athletics running in the 100 meters he clocked below 10 seconds, which record remained unbroken and 25 years. Due to speed at which he ran many people referred to him as the ‘Chilaw Express’.
Gunawardena said “The Olympic pool that we set up to train athletes in 1994-2000 has been taken over by sports officials. Hence there is no place for the athletes”.

The present sports minister has a keen interest to promote athletes and revamp the present arrangement, But he lacks the necessary backing from the ministry officials. Also he said some officials even lacked the necessary knowledge on the subject.

A very good example could be had from the national sports festival this year. This was complete failure in numerous ways — not having even the events at proper time.“Even today we have athletes like Susanthika, Sugath and Dharsha in rural areas. But they must have a pool in Colombo to get them down and help them to go through a rigid training like we did in the 1994-2000, period where S. B. Dissanayake was the minister of sports.

Sunil Gunawardane said Cricket, athletics and weight lifting were three events which Sri Lanka has a chance to reach the international level. Sri Lanka must do everything to improve these events. They also must try to develop other sports as well. “We cannot blindly spend money and vital resources unnecessarily” Said Gunawardena. “It has been found that certain elements from some sports bodies have approached the minister to obtain funds unnecessarily painting rosy pictures that certain events would be fruitful.” He added further.

He said “During our time only 5 officials accompanied 50 athletes. Now 50 officials accompany 50 participants”.




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