Nimali grabs Olympic spot from Nilani
With barely 19 days remaining for the Tokyo Olympics, Sri Lanka is yet to make a confirmed statement on what the finishing providence of representatives on and off the field. Weeks earlier, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC) issued an official statement which said of a ‘strong’ team of eight athletes, with a total of 15 — officials and others included.
Sprinter Yupun Abeykoon views his Olympic Athlete accreditation card as posted in his social media page
By yesterday, the number of athletes have gone up to nine, who are eligible to take part in the Games, yet it is still inconclusive of the final team, with certain nations showing interest in withdrawing from the Games.
The names drawn in the list include track and field athletes Nimali Liyanaarachchi and Yupun Abeykoon, swimmers Matthew Abeysinghe and Aniqah Gaffoor, whose participation was confirmed by the NOC. Others, gymnast Milka Gehani, shooter Tehani Egodawela, judoka Chamara Dharmawardena and shuttler Niluka Karunaratne have earned entries through invitations via a tripartite or universality places. The only athlete to earn direct qualification is Mathilda Karlsson, the Sri Lankan born Swedish showjumper.
Even the international governing bodies for athletics and swimming have not finalised their individual athletes’ global rankings due to lack of competitions during the recent months and accurate data on meets and events that were held. Under such circumstances, the existing global rankings of certain athletes may subject to change, yet coordination between relevant authorities could help clear the grey areas.
The NOC, however, on June 28 confirmed the complete squad of nine athletes who will represent Sri Lanka, though the final approval of the two track and field athletes and the two swimmers are pending.
“Italy based Sri Lankan sprinter Yupun Abeykoon and Nilani Rathnayaka — 3000m Steeplechase along with Judoka Chamara Dharmawardena complete the squad of nine athletes for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which will be from July 23 to August 8. Right now, the other athletes who have definitely booked their flights are Mathilda Karlsson (showjumping – equestrian), Milka Gehani (Artistic Gymnastics), Tehani Egodawela (Shooting) and veteran Olympian Niluka Karunaratne who will be making this third and final appearance in Olympics. Besides, athletes who are on board but waiting for the final confirmation from FINA by first of July are the two swimmers – Aniqah Gaffoor -100m Butterfly and Matthew Abeysinghe -100m Freestyle,” NOC’s statement said.
Though Rathnayaka’s name was in the list until yesterday as the 3000m steeplechase athlete, NOC confirmed that she would not be flying to Tokyo after all. It
was confirmed by an NOC official that 800m runner Liyanaarachchi is the one who has earned the wild card in athletics to represent Sri Lanka and Rathnayaka was highly promoted by Sri Lanka Athletics officials, as she was ranked better and was in action during the past few weeks, including the recent meet in Punjab, India. Liyanaarachchi has been out of action for few weeks now due to an injury.
It is explicable that many countries, Sri Lanka included, are yet to confirm their lists of athletes for the Tokyo Olympics due to various issues, beyond human control. But what differs Sri Lanka’s efforts from others is its dependency on ‘wild cards’, invitations and withdrawal of a team or athletes.
Besides rare and exceptional cases, Sri Lanka has hardly earned direct qualification to the Olympics in its involvement with the global sports extravaganza. Yet, Sri Lanka’s investments on international medals, be it Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic games, has no clear pathway or cemented plan.
What the country takes pride in at present and what had taken place since 2000, after sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe’s Olympic silver medal, are creating mentally motivated individuals, not physically competitive athletes who could go on par with the current global standards.
With such a background, the Ministry of Sports has promised wings and whims by offering US$ 10,000 for each athlete who will represent Sri Lanka at Tokyo Olympics. This is in addition to the daily per diem of US$ 40. No doubt, it would be an encouragement to those athletes who have earned the honour of representing the country at the Olympics.
The question — is it deserving? Showjumper Mathilda Karlsson, who has toiled for months and perhaps years to earn herself a real qualification for the Olympics, after being disqualified earlier on, and while having the comfort of representing Sweden, and choosing the slot to represent Sri Lanka, her country of birth, might be the only athlete deserving of a monetary reward.
To make any financial benefit more rewarding and valuable, Sri Lanka should have a plan in whole to create that elite lot of athletes, not just add heads to a trip that comes once in four years. On top of that the Ministry of Sports contradicts their own vision statement of grading athletes with annual contracts through the ‘National High-Performance Strategy and Sports Tier System’ inaugurated by the National Sports Council in early 2021.
Sprinter Abeykoon, middle distant runner Liyanaarachchi, judoka Dharmawardana and swimmer Abeysinghe are among those who were identified as medal prospects through this project for Asian Games and Commonwealth Games of 2022. Yet what made the higher authorities grant a sum of Rs 2million for just participation is beyond questionable, for an event where athletes were ‘invited’, besides one qualification and all expenses paid.
In the midst, the national athletic team that participated in the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship of India in Punjab, were treated as mere ordinaries and were moved to a common quarantine facility in Matara. The common quarantine centre is said to have COVID positive patients inside and after winning nine medals in India, if this is what to expect from the responsible parties, hypocrisy of treatments for athletes of different stature needs to be corrected. If Rathnayake is to make it to Tokyo Olympics, by any chance, what would be her fate, as she is among the lot.
Sri Lanka needs to change its attitude overall, not only in sports. Yet, sports should have the core importance, as it is the bridge that connects all broken souls and wounded hearts, even when situations are disastrous and compelling.
