Everyone is aware of my capabilities — Subramaniam
New NOC boss Suresh Subramaniam is led by Maxwell de Silva following elections held after nine years - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
The road to Friday’s National Olympic Committee of
Sri Lanka (NOCSL) election was rugged, with both parties trading various allegations. But on the day of the polls, the group backed by outgoing President Hemasiri Fernando recorded an overwhelming victory to take control of country’s Olympic movement.
Suresh Subramaniam, a former Davis Cup tennis player, beat rival Rohan Fernando, national Rower by majority six votes to replace Hemasiri at the helm. Maxwell de Silva, who had been Secretary General since 2009, retained his position despite having been heavily targeted in the run-up to the election by the opposing side. He secured his second term by beating Prithiviraj Perera with a majority of seven votes.
Hemasiri, who stepped down, was NOCSL’s longest serving President with twenty years on the trot. “Everyone knew my capability,” Subramaniam told the Sunday Times. “My past shows that I am a capable guy. Be it in tennis or any other sphere, I have given my hundred present. Besides I have been helping lots of associations right through my career.”
Suresh is a former President of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association, which was run as a professional body, and also a Vice President of the Asian Tennis Federation. “My involvement with NOCSL is limited to just three months,” he said. “But from day one I knew I have the backing of the membership. So it was an easy road.”
On the other hand Rohan Fernando ran his election on an anti-corruption campaign pledging to make sports corruption free on his appointment.
With Suresh and Maxwell winning the top positions, the trend continued down the line but for Maj Gen Palitha Fernando, who was elected from the opposing camp as one of four V ice Presidents. The others are Joseph Kenny, Asanga Seneviratne and Sumith Edirisinghe. Gen Fernando is the President of the of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka–the only sport that has won medals at Olympics. Senaka Ranasinghe was elected Treasurer ahead of Shirantha Perera, with a majority of three.
Wing Commander Chandana Liyanage was elected Assistant General Secretary while Dayan de S. Jayasinghe was elected Assistant Treasurer. Chanaka Hasantha, Fazil Hussain and Ajith Thamal were elected as committee members.
The winners were decided by the 31-member National Sports Associations who cast their votes through a secret ballot.
Although all these positions are honorary, they come with great financial and other benefits–the main reason for members to show an unprecedented level of ambition to get in. And on Friday the announcement of each result was greeted with bursting of firecrackers.
NOCSL last had their election in 2009 and, even though elections were due in 2013, they were postponed until the revision of the NOCSL constitution.