|
The litany of self inflicted ills keeps hounding Sri Lankan sports in one way or another. The latest among them is the Manju Wanniaarachi affair that took the entire nation by storm. One moment they were cheering him wildly with every punch that he connected and the next they were weeping along with rest of the sporting community, grieving for the loss of the only ‘Gold’ that was brought home from New Delhi.
How does this happen and why should it happen and why do the authorities let these go unhindered? Maybe Sri Lanka is not the only country that is afflicted by this Devil’s brew, but as the cliché says, “Charity Begins at home”.
The Olympic Chief Hemasiri Fernando is convinced that an amalgamated effort would yield results. |
As one athletic pundit put it in a very gross form, twelve years ago there was a Lankan athlete who beat Nandrolone and WADA in her run to fame, but since then the IOC hounds have got wiser and tightened all possible screws leaving almost no room for error. Yes, one who is dumb/bold enough to bluff the rest of the world may take the challenge and try to beat the urine test by taking the stuff maybe about seven months prior to the contest so that they can be within the permitted limit of 2.0 ìg/L of 19-norandrosterone. But, it is through chance that the athlete has to calculate this as it may still be in their system on the Day of Judgment and if things go wrong then the very next moment they are history ---- a nobody.
How is the Sri Lankan hierarchy looking at this whole scenario? Are we fighting this seeming menace in a systematic manner or are we swallowing our own tail as we Sri Lankans generally do?
Musing turned to Lankan National Olympic Head Hemasiri Fernando to see how they are coping with it and what sort of action they are taking to combat the situation. Fernando explained, “Speaking of banned substances and the usage of them by athletes is not the job of the WADA or any other international organization. The primary preventive measures should be taken by us – the local authorities. There are several organizations that are in charge of developing and controlling sports in this country.
The Sports Ministry, The Department of Sports Development and when it comes to the medical aspect of it – the Medical Unit of the Sports Ministry. These are the agencies that are directly involved in these areas. At the same time one must understand that the National Olympic Committee is not a controlling body, we are a facilitating body. We get involved when a national team wants to get across for an international meet; we assist them in getting their accreditation and all other facilitating matters and making it easy for the national associations to pursue their tasks. That is our primary involvement in national sports.”
The NOC Chief however explained that they also help the national association by getting down foreign experts on given disciplines and other allied sporting matters through the International Olympic Committee. Hemasiri explained, “That is indirect not direct; the National Olympic Committee generally does not get involved directly with any sports.”
Coming back to the main subject Fernando said, “Right now we are discussing Manju Wanniarachchi’s matter, but remember this is not the first case of this nature or this may not be the last. Though this is yet small in Sri Lanka, internationally this is a big issue. Yet again as the National Olympic Committee we would be more than glad to help any organization who is good enough to venture into this sticky subject of doping eradication and we would like to join hands with them.
“At the moment what is required is educating the sporting fraternity about the demerits of this habit. This has not happened up to now effectively. The Sports Medical Unit of the Sports Ministry has done certain things, but that is not enough. The programmes have not been convincing, that is why yet there are athletes who are trying to dabble with banned substances. Recently when I met President Mahinda Rajapaksa I explained the importance of this venture, and he fully understood and said that we must all get together and make a unified effort.”
Hemasiri Fernando explained that Lankan sports come under the ministry and therefore under government institutions, but generally when things of this nature occur everyone looks at the NOC and asks the question: “What’s happening?”
When then asked if they are facing such situations, Fernando promptly replied that the NOC has in every way tried to address the situation by mooting any programme that they could launch along with the said government institutions. Fernando stressed, “As the first step, at the quality committee we have established a medical committee under Dr. C. Thuriarajah, who is one of the most qualified persons in sports medicine who had been sidelined before. Now we are happy to say that we have three hundred fully trained Sports Medicine Doctors under our wing today. They are serving in most government and private medical institutions today. We can use them, but the problem is that it is the Ministry Sports Medicine Unit that has to take the initiative.
When asked about the involvement of coaches who induced the usage of these banned substances to their subject athletes and how we could derive a programme to educate the coaches as well as the athletes, Fernando stated that Dr. Thuriarajah mooted a scheme which was named the medical passport to all national athletes who represent the country.
The scheme was to test the athletes for banned substances and issue them with a green card that has a recognized seal. This would enable the authorities of any country to go through their record and see what sort of medication that they have been undergoing and what drugs that they have been using for their ailments. He then added, “In one instance when a national team was just about to embark on a national mission we got ready to test them under this scheme, but, this was stopped at the eleventh hour by the government machinery. It was a real drawback and the results are now evident.”
This short narration clearly depicts the sorry situation that has enveloped this talented island. This is the time that we should shed our petty differences and work towards a common goal that would yield better results and better athletes in the future.
|
E-mail
