Tussle between local coaches and athletes
Phillip Ranjit Perera
A tussle has emerged between personal coaches and some of their athletes regarding the attendance of the special training camp in India. The athletes are those who have been selected for the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships to be held in India from July 6 to 9.
A training schedule is to be held at the venue of the event but a tug-o-war has resulted. The athletes state that they cannot attend the training camp without their personal coaches and some of the athletes say that without their personal coaches they are unwilling to attend the training session.
The coaches say that they cannot release their athletes as they are liable to be injured and that they cannot take that risk.
Due to this the
Sri Lanka Athletics Association is faced with a big question. They insist that the team should proceed to India. As an example the coaches say that especially the 4X100 and 4X400 Relay teams cannot be changed or interfered with. They say that part of the relay team cannot be sent to India with the others remain in Sri Lanka as it will interfere with the baton changes.
Twenty two athletes have been selected for the event – 15 of them are men and seven women. Five coaches and two officials too have been selected to accompany them.
There were two selection trials to select the teams and 19 qualified. One athlete was eliminated. Two qualified for the Long Jump and only the best long jumper was selected. Four athletes came very near to be qualified.
The Race Walking Championships is scheduled to be held on June 17 in Battaramulla from which the winners will be selected for the Asian Championships. Then the team is likely to consist of 24 athletes.
Five official coaches have been selected. They are Badra Gunewardena, Sajith Jayalal, Chaminda Perera, Lewis Mirando and Phillip Ranjit Perera.
The most senior athlete is high jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekera is expected to be named the team skipper.
These coaches have been selected on the basis that the athletes have been trained by them.
Athletics Association’s Senior Vice President Lal Chandrakumar has been appointed as the Manager. The Assistant Manager is Yasa Rohana De Silva.
The athletes are being sent to India for training two weeks prior to the event as there is no suitable venue available in Sri Lanka. They expected to use the Sugathadasa Stadium for training but it has been closed for close upon a year. The other venue Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Diyagama is not in a suitable to stage the training for such an event. That is the reason why the team is being sent to India a fortnight before the main event.
The Athetics Federation of India is aware of the situation prevailing in Sri Lanka and their top officials have agreed to host only Sri Lanka in this manner.