A death especially of a young student while at play cannot be condoned under any circumstances. At the same time taking ‘Kekille’ type decisions by a set of people who do not know the part played by sports in our mere mortal society to suspend or ban it also cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
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King Kekille was a person who was a square pin poked in a round hole according to Lankan history. Some of the judgements meted out by him is still being humorously scorned at after so many centuries. Even in this instance whoever is responsible for such an irrational decision could be put in the same frame and hung next to Kekille.
The unfortunate death of D.S. Senanayake student Pasindu Jayawickrema while taking part in an inter school Wushu tournament at the Sugathadasa Stadium last week was really a sad day in the annals of sport for this country. Yet it also must be reminded that this is not the first death of a student that has occurred while partaking in sports in recent history.
We can still recall ‘Malik’ the son of the then principal of D.S. Senanayake Vidyalaya R.I.T. Alles encountered an untimely death while attending cricket practices. Had the grief-stricken father at that time jumped to a hasty conclusion and stopped supporting the game of cricket in that school, Sri Lanka may never have had the fortune of witnessing the fluency of that world revered cricketer Aravinda de Silva. Yet, The Ministry of Education has suddenly taken a blunt decision of suspending boxing, wrestling, Karate, judo, Wushu and Taekwondo in schools till a final decision on it would be taken on May 25. Also the minister is awaiting a report from the Director of Sports, Ministry of Education regarding the death of Pasindu Jayawickrema.
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Bewildered by this hasty and unjust decision Musings sought the views of a well respected person in the Sports World, Dion Gomes, who also happened to hold the reins of the popular sport boxing for many seasons.
Like me Dion Gomes was also in a spin. Among the suspended lot boxing is by far the most prevalent sport in the country and has roots that run deep into Lankan sports history and to add insult to injury the L.V. Jayaweera boxing meet that is held between the schools that have boxing as a sport has been postponed until further notice. An angry Gomes spoke “Boxing is an active global sport and it is spread in 205 countries in the World Today. In Sri Lanka there are over 65 schools that have boxing in their sports curricula and at Royal where I did my boxing it has been an active sport for over 90 years”Explaining further “Boxing is one sport in which we had a participant at the Olympics from 1948 to 1968 and we revived that tradition last year while Sri Lanka began to win medals at various boxing meets the world over in the recent past”.
He pointed out that in any sport the cradle is the schools and without youngsters taking up the sport at that level it is very difficult to develop to the higher levels required internationally.
He said “We take all precautionary measures when having a boxing meet. We will never begin a meet without the attendance of a doctor at the site. Besides that we also take other required safety measures like the head-gear etc so I cannot understand how they could count boxing a dangerous sport”.
Besides that Dion Gomes also pointed out that Wrestling and Judo are two of the risk free sports. He asked “Have you ever even heard of anyone dying while taking part in these two sports?”
Former Director of Sport Ministry of Education Sunil Jayaweera who has a vast experience in schools sports administration was also a bitter critic of this hasty decision. He said “Their approach to this subject is wrong. What they should have done was to have a preliminary inquiry and ascertained to themselves what measures should be taken to a development of this nature.
“For instance Judo is not a martial art and in the same vein there are other sports that are danger prone like rugby. Now rugby is a contact sport and there have been deaths and major injuries like spinal cord injuries while engaging in that sport. Have they suspended or banned rugby? No.”
“Rationally what should have been done was to take each of these sports and comb through them carefully and see if all safety measures are provided at practices and meets and see what safety measures should be recommended to make those sports risk free.” Jayaweera said.
Rohana Karunaratne, Principal of Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa in his capacity as the secretary of the Schools’ Sports Council shared almost the same view as the others and also clarified that Judo and Wrestling did not come under the category of martial arts. He said “If you just think both Judo and Wrestling are done on mattresses so the chances of anyone getting injured is very remote and it is duel between two people. At the same time rugby is played on rough turf and there are pile-ups that involve many players and there chances of a person getting injured is great. But, the game has to go on.”
The Secretary of the Schools Sports Council further said “When I inquired on this development from the Director of Sports, Ministry of Education he explained that it was a sudden decision which they arrived at and they hoped to sort things out as early as possible, and they hope to have a meeting in this regard on May 25.” Karunaratne personally feels that the ministry should invite all national bodies as schools bodies along with the allied officials of the Ministry of Education and a detailed discussion so as to arrive at a meaningful decision so that they could minimize incidents of this nature in the future.
Musings from this observed that the lads at the Ministry of Education who are involved in sports do not know even what sports should be described as martial arts. Secondly, they did not know what measures that they should take upon a development of this nature. |
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