IAAF recognises AASL at last
View(s):After months of deliberation the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) has decided to identify Sugath Thilakaratne and his office bearers as the duly elected officials of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL). This decision was ade by the IAAF on Friday following appeals made by former officials and the incumbent president.
“As you can read, in the letter they indicate that the elections were duly held at the annual general meeting of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka on 14 May 2015 and they agree to your request for IAAF recognition. Based on the above, we hereby have pleasure to inform you that the IAAF recognises the elections held on 14 May 2015 and the list of board members you sent us on 19 May 2015, including your goodselves as President – Mr Sugath Thilakaratne and General Secretary – Mr S.P. Rupasinghe,” the letter sent by the IAAF states.
Former officials of AASL, Major Palitha Fernando and Prema Pinnawela were directly involved in helping regain the IAAF recognition in addition to Thilakaratne. In early March, days before the AASL election, majority of affiliations have got together to write in protest of the election to the IAAF. This resulted in creating uncertainty after IAAF questioned the legality of the newly elected officials of AASL.
“We did not agree the way the elections were held, so we decided to protest to the IAAF, who in return raised many questions and wanted to have a re-election. But as former officials we decided, for the sake of athletics and athletes of Sri Lanka, to spearhead and help find a way out. As the former secretary general, I and Palitha Fernando, as the former president, wrote to the IAAF and I personally followed up by calling the IAAF nine times to have the doubt cleared. Our concern is the future of athletics in Sri Lanka, and we did the best possible thing to help get it back on track to the present officials of AASL,” Prema Pinnawela told the Sunday Times. - NA