From Boxing, Dian moves on to head NAFSL
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Renowned sports administrator, Dian Gomes was elected as the President of the National Association of Fencing (NAFSL) in Sri Lanka while Ajith Siyambalapitiya was elected as its Secretary General.
Gomes, a former president of Sri Lanka Amateur Boxing Association, commenting his views, mentioned that throughout the nine years of operation of NAFSL, the committee’s vision is to make fencing an accessible sport for Sri Lankans.
“We have achieved this, especially this year, with over 250 fencers who are school-goers hailing from the districts of Colombo, Kalutara, Kurunuegala, Gampaha and Kandy undergoing regular training,” he stated.
The NAFSL has been active for the past nine years and has progressed with great vigor each year. Its eighth Annual General Meeting was held last Wednesday in Colombo.
“2015 was a record breaking year for the association, as approximately 15 fencers represented Sri Lanka in World and Asian level Senior and Junior Championships, which could be termed as the sport’s best representation, internationally, during the past nine years. Our main focus is to strengthen the local coaching talent. In this vein, the association has under its tutelage seven local coaches who are certified by the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, India. We intend to have more fencers and our target will be to win more medals at international level,” he added.
The NAFSL will highlight on granting more exposure to promising fencers through international competitions and coaching camps. One other area they would lay their focus on would be to strengthen the current coaching arm by bringing in more foreign trainers, who would ‘Train the Trainer’. This would augment the expert knowledge already existent in the field of fencing. The NAFSL is firm that it would do the best to place Sri Lankan Fencing on the world map.
“For the year 2016/2017 we need to further enhance the geographical reach of the sport. Support from the Sports Ministry is essential for this, since the major cities in Sri Lanka needs to be touched, with focused attention bestowed on school-goers who are interested in the sport. The young generation holds the future, and we need to give them the resources and development skills, if this sport is to reach its highest potential,” Gomes went on to say.
The NAFSL is the registered governing body for the sport of Fencing in Sri Lanka and is affiliated to the Federation Internationale D’Escrime (FIE), Commonwealth Fencing Federation (CFF), Fencing Confederation of Asia (FCA), the South Asian Fencing Federation (SAFF) and work under the auspices of the Ministry of Sports in Sri Lanka and The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka.
“Developing the next generation of fencers is the building block for the future of the sport in Sri Lanka. However to develop them we also require skilled referees and coaches. This year we have developed a FIE accredited P level referee, Mr. Gayan Bandara who is very well recognised at Asian Level competitions,” Gomes added.
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