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| Sunday, 14 July 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Susanthika to hog the limelight again ? by Srian Obeyesekere Missed out on the 'darling of the track' ? Indeed, it has seemed so. Queen of local athletics, Susanthika Jayasinghe, it seems has been in hibernation. Not in a long time have local fans got the chance of feasting on their hero.
The Commonwealth Games will be the route from where Susanthika will look to new fortunes. But it will be not be rosy by any means. The 200 metres Olympic bronze medallist will face stiff competition. And the fact that she hasn't found the type of recognition and fame associated with such Olympic heights as a star from a third world country will not help. It wasn't a golden lane but thorns for one rating a national asset. Not long after her medal triumph in Sydney her career took a beating when she was allegedly assaulted by two fellow athletes. Her training suffered before she could get back on track after a break. After a training camp in Malaysia, Susanthika, whose chequered career has not been without controversy, will certainly hog the limelight at the Commonwealth Games. But her absence from recent meets including the World Championships in Edmonton has seen her name go out from the international ratings which once saw her ranked third in the 200 metres event. After the Commonwealth, it will be the Asian Track and Field Championships back home in August followed by the Asian Games in Busan. But it will be the Asian extravaganza hosted in Sri Lanka that must by all accounts take the cake. It will open the doors to our local athletes who will find ideal home conditions the testing ground where the meet will mean much to the starry eyed looking to flaunt their talents. As much the stars. It will be mounted by countries like China, Japan and South Korea. For Sri Lanka the home event will be of much significance. Not only from a competition point of view. But organising as well. Costing millions of rupees in gearing for the event including refurbishing the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium costing some 106 million from state funds to relay the track to international standards, it will mean much to the local athletic world. An event that will bring together athletes from some 43 countries. Not only in testing strengths. But the bonds of goodwill and friendhship manifested through sports. For local athletics the event must be the lane to discovering new talent. While the Susanthika's, Dharsha's, Kulawansas and Sugath Tillekeratne's have flaunted their talents on the Asian circuit, the sport cannot develop further without new talent. In so much it must motivate the local trainers to get the best from their charges in looking to a new horizon. In this quest, the local athletic authorities have more than a mile to run. In the country's athletic history there have been only two Olympic champions. And that too in a long, long age gap. The first been Duncan White who won a silver medal in 1948. And Susanthika in the year 2000. That it took 52 years for the country's second Olympic medal underlines the gap between developed and under-developed countries. In this modern age of high technology the bridge badly felt. But facilities to which Sri Lanka can avail itself to where such stars of the calibre of Susanthika can yet benefit from. Certainly, Susanthika is the best example to today's athletes. The barefoot village lass who caught the eye of her games mistress as a five year old from where she made it to the metropolis to make her mark before taking the world by storm. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
But those Susanthika fans can look forward to feasting their eyes on
the champion athlete when she takes to the track come August. But before
that what will take the gloss is the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in
England where the onus will be very much on the local star to achieve to
maintain the high standards she has set on the international stage.
