NOC election on Tuesday: 4 nominations get rejected
The Election Committee appointed to conduct the forthcoming election of office bearers of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC), has rejected four nominations according to informed sources. In total five will forego the elections set for Tuesday, December 28 at 5.00pm with Asanga Seneviratne, presently a Vice President of the committee in power, withdrew his nomination for the same position.
The four names rejected by the Election Committee comprising three former Secretaries to the Ministry of Sports — Dr. R.M.K. Ratnayake, S. Ranukge and Anura Jayawickrama are of Dian Gomes, D.S. Kamal Pushpakumara, Boyagodage Manoj Dhammika Padmakumara Karunaratne and A.D. Dhammika Karandenigoda, all supposedly aligned to Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Palitha Fernando’s faction.
Three nominations have the same reason in common for being rejected as ‘not a representative or delegate nominated by the federation or association’. They are of Dian Gomes, interestingly the incumbent President of the Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Kamal Pushpakumara, the incumbent President of Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and Manoj Karunaratne, of Sri Lanka Archery Association.
In addition to this, Gomes’ role as coach of the Sri Lanka boxing team at the Commonwealth Games 2018 held in Gold Coast, Australia, had come as a pessimistic reason for the rejection of his nomination. Gomes and Pushpakumara had forwarded their nominations for the position of Vice President at the upcoming NOC elections, while Karunaratne’s nomination was forwarded for the position of Assistant Treasurer.
In the case of Karandenigoda, also of Sri Lanka Archery Association, who contested for the position of Assistant Secretary, the nomination form has been forwarded without the signature of the candidate.
Meanwhile Asanga Seneviratne, the incumbent President of Sri Lanka Baseball, has withdrawn his nomination without showing a reason. He is part of the present NOC committee as Vice President, and was intending to contest for the same position under present NOC President Suresh Subramaniam’s faction.
This will create automatic passages to the positions of Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer where the two nominees — Wing Commander Chandana Liyanage and Shirantha Peries in being elected to the posts uncontested. In addition, the number of individuals contesting for the position of Vice Presidents will come down to five, with three of them — Joseph Kenny, Suranjith Premadasa and Niloo Jayatilleke — are from the Subramaniam faction. Others contesting for the position representing the party of Maj. Gen. Fernando are Kanchana Jayaratne and Preethi Perera.
In addition to these latest developments, it was reported last week that voting rights of present administrations of three sports associations — Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union, Sri Lanka Cycling Federation and Sri Lanka Handball Federation — have been negated as they are not recognised by their respective global bodies.
The international governing bodies of aquatic sports, cycling and handball are still recognising the former office bearers as legitimate Sri Lankan representatives as elections of the said three local bodies are not sanctioned. Accordingly the former representatives of the three local sports bodies may get the privilege of voting at Tuesday’s NOC elections.
A total of 12 positions will be contested and filled by the late evening of Tuesday, which includes President, four Vice Presidents, Secretary General, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and three member to the Executive Committee.
Incumbent President Suresh Subramaniam and Maj. Gen. (Retd) Palitha Fernando have forwarded their nominations for the top position of NOC, while present General Secretary Maxwell de Silva will seek another term under the same leadership. Mohan Wijesinghe, the Secretary of Sri Lanka Badminton Association, will vie for the same position against de Silva, who won the 2018 election by 19-12 against Preethi Perera.
Subramaniam, a former Davis Cup tennis player and former President and current Vice President of Sri Lanka Tennis Association, won the NOC election in 2018 by 18-12 against the then President of Rowing Association of Sri Lanka, Rohan Fernando, who was set to contest for the top post once again but later declined.
The NOC election in 2018 was held in February and this time around it will be held with the current office bearers having further two months to end their tenure. The elections will be held as a secret ballot.
