Athletics: Coaches ruining athletics in the country – Palitha Fernando

President of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) Retired Major General Palitha Fernando on Saturday (8) blamed the coaches as the main cause for ruining the sport in the country.

Fernando along with the Secretary of the AASL Prema Pinnawela arrived in Bhubaneswar, India on Saturday to participate in the Asian Athletics Congress which is held in line with the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship.

Fernando observed that most of the present athletic coaches have exploited their students to obtain their personal goals and this has been effective from school level upto the National level.

He recalled how some of the veteran coaches in the bygone era sacrificed their valuable time and energy to produce outstanding athletes without depending on any personal goals.

Fernando said that fortunately there are a couple of coaches today who are willing to work in a similar manner but the majority of the coaches are only keen on their personal goals.       

“This is a very pathetic situation for athletics in the country and this is quite evident considering the large number of coaches who are currently accompanying the Sri Lankan contingent for the Asian Athletics Championship” he observed.

“We have a total of 18 coaches accompanying the squad although the AASL had earlier recommended only six coaches for this meet.”

“Some of the athletes complained that they cannot compete at a major event under the supervision of new coaches and likewise some coaches refused to release their athletes to participate without their guidance” he explained.

“Ultimately these coaches were able to win the battle and obtain their personal goals while even misleading the Minister of Sports,” he lamented.

The Athletics Chief further noted that these selfish coaches tend to hide valuable statistics and records of their students and are hesitant to release them to the AASL which is a mafia that is destroying athletics in the country.

Fernando further stressed that the coaches and teaches of these respective schools are directly involved in this schools athletics mafia.

He also noted that providing overseas training to athletes have turned out to be a complete failure in the past as most of them have been unsuccessful in their careers thereafter.