Sports
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ET TU Mahinda Though Sri Lanka is only a tiny spec on the World Map, it is a country that has a very rich tradition in the sphere of sports and has produced world class performers now and again – maybe on a faster frequency than we produce statesmen. Just delving into the past Sri Lanka has produced ‘silver’ and ‘bronze’ medal winners at the hallowed Olympics. A World Snooker Champion, a cricket team that brought home its ‘plum’ – the World Cup when-- even England, who taught the world how to play the game, still could not win it and even a champion offspinner in Muttiah Muralitharan. Well there is no point in playing this hackneyed tape all over again, but it’s just a reminder. At the same time the newly elected president, Mahinda Rajapakse is also no stranger to sports. He too reportedly had been an athlete while at his alma-mater – Thurstan College and also had been at the helm of the AAA and the Elle Federation. Then his family has also been very much in sports. Then the President’s wife – the first lady Shiranthi headed the Netball federation not many moons ago. Even beyond that his three sons too are sportsmen of repute turning out for S. Thomas’ College at rugby while his eldest son Namal has represented the Sri Lanka Youth team in rugby. What this entire running around the bush means is that the sporting fraternity in this country are seeing that hollow point in sports once again. They see that a square plug in a round hole. Then adding insult to injury the player is now in the second Xl. The bitter truth is, barring rugby and boxing, the rest of the sports in this country are on the wane and are showing no evident signs of growth. More so where the downward trend is it has gathered speed during the past year or so. For instance, in the field of athletics the picking of medals is now becoming a luxury while it was almost a habit a while ago. Then at the same time is the country ready to take on the challenge of hosting the South Asian Federation Games? The spectacle is getting postponed time and again, but according to inside reports nothing solid is taking place preparation wise even here. However one hopes the new president, as the head of the steering committee, will show the others the way by example. A little
more than a year ago when Jeewan Kumaratunga was chosen as the Minister
of Youth Affairs and Sports many an eyebrow went up as to say why
he who had no sports background was chosen to guide the destiny
of this very important sphere of activity in the island (We are
only discussing the subject of sports). However all sat aside and
watched how he performed. At the same time one cannot place the entire blame on him alone. The people who first put him in that seat should have known that he was a man with no sports background. Once he was at the helm the most obvious followed. He became the king who wore the special cloth that only the wise could see. Those who won the day were the people who knew to play the right card at the right time.When this entire scenario took place the ministry of sports was at a higher elevation and the very minister’s voice could have been heard at cabinet level. Now with the present degradation there is a chance that the voice of sports could get more muffled? Sports in this country deserves better. We were all of the view that the new ‘chinthanaya’ would usher in a new era in sports in a more dignified manner and not a new era of this nature. Just once we take the liberty of humbly asking the new president, is it our practice that we appoint someone to a position just because he has no other job to be given or else we have to give the best man among us the chance to prove himself?
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