Sports

Sports

The Susanthika outburst
By Pelham Juriansz and S.R. Pathiravithana
Are athletics and athletes themselves getting out of hand? In the present context it has become a problem, and it is slowly growing out of proportion. A good example is the incident that took place at the SAF games where the captain of the Sri Lanka athletic contingent Susanthika Jayasinghe having an outburst against manager of the team Brig. Parry Liyanage.

No one will condone to any sort of outbursts from any member of a sports contingent or any contingent for that matter against the management. However if one probes into the matter of what happened over there in Islamabad they will find that there were bones in the closet.

Squabbles among athletic coaches in Sri Lanka did not start yesterday. It has been a perennial malady in Sri Lanka athletics and as things are, the end is not in the horizon. As the story goes there was no problem about the first two places in the 4 x 100 men's relay team. But in the third and fifth places there were two athletes trained by Susanthika Jayasinghe herself. In the Fourth and sixth places there were two athletes trained by Derwin Perera and Sunil Gunawardena.

When the selection of the team came the two athletes in the third and fifth places were dropped and the fourth and the sixth places picked. The explanation given was that the athletes in the third and fifth places were very weak in their baton changing. This decision was arrived after a meeting of the tour hierarchy. However, why were some left out of this meeting? The crux of the matter lies here. The athletes were training in Sri Lanka for a given period prior to their departure with the attendance of all the coaches and the selectors. Why wasn't this shortcoming pointed out at this end? Why and how were they picked? Was it a joy ride for these two athletes to Islamabad?

The Sunday Times queried from the President of the Amateur Athletics Association Sunil Jayaweera about the incident and what steps that they were contemplating to eradicate instances of this nature that brings the country nothing but black marks.

Sunil Jayaweera said, "We cannot condone behaviour of this nature by anyone. The AAA has appointed an independent person in SSP Premila Divakara, to probe into the matter and further more the AAA will also form an Arbitration Board comprising five persons of standing which will also be an independent body and an ongoing thing. What we expect from this body is to settle disputes among the athletics fraternity in an amicable manner.

Though the AAA is the governing body of athletics in the country we are in no position to introduce a code of conduct to the athletes, as they are not under any sort of contract with us unlike the national cricketers. For one thing it is a very costly exercise and the other is that this may lead to other problems such as who are the athletes that will be given the contracts and who will be left out?" Meanwhile the secretary of the AAA Prema Pinnawale commenting on the matter said "But as the skipper of the team she should set an example" agreed Pinnawale, in answer to a question posed to him, as to the fact that Susanthika, being the captain of the overall team should have set an example to the other budding athletes.

"We need to employ the services of a Sports psychologist, who can help these athletes who are indisciplined and help them discipline themselves' explained Pinnawale. "Most of them come from rural backgrounds where they use this kind of abusive language."

But this then is a different kettle of fish, as we are talking about the captain of our National Athletics team and also the skipper of the overall SAF Games team who is supposed to set an example for others to follow.

"These kids mostly come from rural homes where they are not used to making money and when they come to Colombo and make money through Athletics etc they tend to lose their head and then need to be disciplined. We have to be the guiding agents and help them.

For example, there was John Drummond who misbehaved in the World Athletics Championship, and he was taken over by a psychologist, but it was too late to help him." He added.

"The athletes should be taught that athletics is not just about winning gold medals and hoisting the flag. It is about behaviour as well. In this the media should be proactive. Just as much as the Media highlights the dangers of drugs, it is up to the media to highlight the bad effects of indiscipline."

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