We are not a paper club, says modern pentathlon president
The Modern Pentathlon Federation of Sri Lanka (MPFSL) cited its displeasure for identifying the sport body as a ‘paper club’ that has been drawn into the ongoing conflict within the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC).
With the mounting administrative issues within the NOC, where its global partners, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have recommended the immediate removal of Maxwell de Silva, the now-ousted Secretary General of the local NOC. Its senior administration has initiated a forensic audit to scrutinise key financial areas, including the Olympic Solidarity Fund—funds meant for athlete development but long suspected of mismanagement—the Athletes Commission, the Forest Cover Project (an initiative meant to promote environmental sustainability but now under scrutiny for financial irregularities), and so-called ‘paper associations’. This move was initiated by the NOC with the intention of restoring credibility after de Silva was suspended from his role as Secretary General of the NOC, due to severe governance failures and allegations of financial misconduct.
Nishanthe Piyasena (2nd left) with the rest of MPFSL officials during a local training programme
“The MPFSL and its elected board are severely offended by the remarks of us being identified as a ‘paper association’, which is not true. We were gazetted in Sri Lanka in 2015, and the MPFSL is affiliated to the Ministry of Sport as well as the NOC, being an Olympic sport. It’s an insult towards modern pentathlon, which is an evolving sport in Sri Lanka,” Nishanthe Piyasena, the incumbent President of MPFSL stated.
Piyasena also revealed that the MPFSL, consisting of Probod Munasinghe as Secretary, Ushan Kodagoda as Treasurer and Lt. Cmd. Naveen Padmaratne as Vice President, has brought the ‘labelling’ to its parent body, the UIPM (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne), who in return has issued an official statement identifying its Sri Lankan affiliation as an active member. Modern pentathlon includes five sporting disciplines – shooting, running, fencing, swimming and obstacles, which replaced horse riding as the fifth sport.
“We have made progress since 2015 as an active sport body, by introducing modern pentathlon to schools, and conducting competitions, seminars and workshops with the intention of popularising the sport. The branding of MPFSL as a paper association is an unjustifiable act, without proper analysis,” added Piyasena, who has been recently appointed as a member of the UIPM Innovation Commission based in Monaco.