Confusion — series of rowing competitions postponed
The intended combined rowing competitions — the National Novice and Intermediate Championship and the Inter-School Championship — will not take place as planned according to sources of Amateur Rowing Association of Sri Lanka (ARASL). The twin competition was scheduled to be held from August 29 and September 2 on the 2000m rowing course on the Diyawannawa Rowing Centre in Koswatte, Rajagiriya.
The reason behind the indefinite postponement according to information is a series of petitions forwarded by certain parties or schools connected to the Schools Rowing Association (SRA). According to information the petitioners have written to Ministry of Education and SRA, stating that the intended schools competition among the two, may obstruct the GCE Advance Level examination, which apparently ended on Friday.
Interestingly the ARASL is not aware of the development, besides the fact that it has postponed the National Novice and Intermediate Championship, due to a technical and logistic issue of the SRA.
However it is unclear of the real intention of the parties who had petitioned against a competition of a magnitude such as the Inter-Schools Championships, which the ARASL had taken a keen interest to adhere international standards.
“Whoever did it, they should had done it in a practical and ethical manner. First make a written request stating their concerns and then probably a meeting. Instead, petitions come in and it affects the whole process,” a rowing stalwart, who wished to remain unnamed, stated.
According to Sithira Wickramasekara, the Administrator of Diyawanna Rowing Centre and Co-ordinator to ARASL, it’s official that the twin competition has been postponed indefinitely. Wickramasekara too was not aware clearly of the rationality behind the said petitions but stated that as the administrator of the venue the most viable step is to call the competitions off until matters are sorted out.
“The reason to merge the Inter-School Championship with the Novices and Intermediate Rowing Championship is mainly to boost up the potential of our athletes for the future. It’s a long overdue exercise. We have been looking at improving our standards in rowing and the best platform to begin that is with the schools and novices. However it looks like there’s a lot more work need to be done to change the attitude of certain parties before thinking of other sources of development,” Wickramasekara added.
Had the combined competition taken place as planned it would have been the first time in history, that the National Novice and Intermediate Championship and the Inter-School Championship were merged, with the intention of giving the athletes a glimpse of international touch.
Few months ago the ARASL initiated the programme ‘Dakunata Rowing’ and their aim took a clear win when over 10 schools got together to form the Southern Schools Rowing Association. This would have been the first outing for those schools from the southern region at the Inter-Schools Championship where the number of participating schools would surpass 20.
The ARASL conducted the 29th Rowing Nationals in June, 2017 and the event was termed a grand success. The now-postponed tournament also would have been the first occasion a school competition is being held on the waters of Diyawanna, where the length is 2000metres.