Should ‘Aragalaya’ reset our sports outlook?
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Australia's Steven Smith bats, as protestors invaded the Galle Fort rampart
Yupun Abeykoon brought our sprint time under the 10-second barrier and our cricketers celebrated the presidential exit with a well-orchestrated victory under the ramparts of Galle. Remarkable, when one considers the serious plight under which we operate in this paradise isle.
Yupun, has of course, long left Sri Lanka and bemoaned the fact that his country of birth had done little to enact this stupendous timing while our cricketers are probably the only section of society not affected by any dollar shortages. They have enough in the kitty to support other sports and even alleviate the suffering of fellow citizens in many noble gestures. That beautiful script sadly seems to end there. In many other arenas, what you see is an abject disfigurement of what Sri Lanka could showcase as its philosophy of sports performance and achievement.
The classic case is the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 preparation, which merely centres on contingent rather than conviction. At a time when
Sri Lanka is tottering with an unprecedented foreign exchange crisis, no concern appears to assail the Ministry of Sports (MoS) or its erstwhile partner, the Sri Lanka National Olympic Committee (NOC). The latter has become a past master of the game of make believe with its overriding compulsion appearing to be jaunts to the Olympic Games, Asian Games, the CWG and all other international forums, more often in the hope than any real chance of victory or paralleled achievement.
We are now regaled with news that a 160 strong contingent will go to Birmingham later this month which includes a retinue of 40 strong officials and staff, how nice and convenient, while people are languishing in unending queues. Surprisingly, the MoS appears to endorse this mass exit with the Chef De Mission exclaiming that his main concern is the prevention of deserters. What a tragedy! Why should he worry? Let these people go where they can and attempt to live happily ever after.
No validated information ever emanates from the NOC. Why cannot the NOC publish its expectations from this tour? For a long time, the National Sports Council (NSC) and the National Selectors, when under the crown prince, espoused that only medal winning prospects will be sponsored and allowed to participate in foreign competitions, not those who are ready to travel with the backing of money bags. But that hardly happens.
Once the team returns and the results are disseminated and evaluated, the blame if it must be attributed is placed squarely on the National Sports Associations (NSA) and advice liberally shared that better preparation is required next time around. No accountability is shown and the Minister of Sports, who normally marks his presence at the last moment at such events, makes appropriate noises with little knowledge of what took place.
This column will not attempt to analyse the prospects of each of our sports teams descending on Birmingham. Weightlifting, we are told, is our best bet. Table tennis, we learn, is taking its second string. Badminton comes across like a misplaced racket with a granddaddy continuing to globe trot, while the women’s doubles pair has been left in the lurch, social media discloses. Rugby will probably scrum down though its President is still persona-non-grata by Asian Rugby. Swimming and gymnastics have their work cut out while it is hoped that entries in judo can spring some surprises. If Yupun repeats his form, it will redeem Sri Lanka’s presence at the games. And cricket will no doubt hold its own in conditions, as we understand quite well.
The talk of the town is the unbridled corruption that has brought this nation to its knees. No wonder, the ‘Aragalaya’ (struggle) dogma demands meritocracy and transparency. It is even defining state transport for the civil service, underlining the need of the hour; a national frugality index. No more excesses to be entertained. So, what is our bandwagon to CWG trying to prove? Seasoned sports observers are nonplussed by the antics displayed by the experts who run national sports in this land. Now and again, we discover a star like Susie (Susanthika Jayasinghe) who overcame the many obstacles to put our country on the Olympic score card, but by and large, our preparations are lukewarm and not in sync with the standards required to compete at this international level. Sooner or later, one will not be surprised if the MoS and NOC will be called to account. The ‘Aragalaya’ is not about GGG only; it is the future of our country and its sports.