Sri Lanka must bounce back to regain lost glory

By Dinesh WEERAWANSA

ASIAD: Sri Lanka’s debacle at the 16th Asian Games in China is an eye-opener for all, not only for our sportsmen and women but also for the sports administrators, coaches, officials and for those at the Sports Ministry.

But early reactions of the new Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage, another proud product of Royal College, gave some hope as the Minister is keen to put everything that had taken place under microscope and plan a strategy for the future. Minister Aluthgamage has a proven track record of a dynamic politician who is capable of achieving targets and we earnestly hope that he would be able to resurrect Sri Lanka sport.

Sri Lanka fielded 104 sportsmen and women for the 45-nation Games held at the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, which hosted the best ever Games. When the coaches and officials were added, the total strength of the Sri Lanka contingent for the Guangzhou Asian Games was 143 members. The Ministry of Sports did its duty by meeting the expenses of the tour party for which a colossal sum of money was spent. But what did they achieve at the end? Nothing! None of the members in the tour party was able to win at least a single bronze medal.

In other words, Sri Lanka’s huge 143-member contingent for the Asian Games returned home empty handed, painting a poor picture in Guangzhou. This is the first time in 28 years that a Sri Lanka contingent has failed to win a single medal at an Asian Games. Sri Lanka’s previous disastrous performance at the Asian Games was way back in 1982 New Delhi when the country failed to win a single medal. Obviously, that contingent was not as big as the jumbo one we sent to China last month.

It was the most pathetic performance that I have ever witnessed after covering five successive Asian Games for the Sunday Observer and the Daily News. In all my previous tours for the Asian Games in Hiroshima 1994, Bangkok 1998, Busan 2002 and Doha 2006, Sri Lanka performed well, enjoying its own share and glory. The Bangkok 1998 Games was the most fruitful from Sri Lanka’s point of view as we won three gold medals, ending a 24-year lean run without a gold.

Sri Lanka women opted out

Of all the disciplines, Sri Lanka had the best chance of winning the gold in cricket, especially women’s tournament. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka opted not to field a team as the authorities preferred to play England in a home series. In the absence of Sri Lanka and India, Pakistan women bagged the gold in Twenty20 cricket.

Despite having the services of eight Sri Lanka players, our men’s team failed to make use of the opportunity they got to win the gold at the first-ever Asian Games competition. Having survived a nail-biter to secure a two-wicket win over minnows Nepal with seven balls to spare in the quarter-final, Sri Lanka had a disgraceful performance in losing to less-fancied Bangladesh in the ‘semis’. Jehan Mubarak and his men’s third successive defeat was at the hands of the bronze medal deciding play-off.

Sri Lanka Cricket should not take this merely as a recreation tour and must take serious note of the pathetic performance of the players when selecting them for future tours.

Track and field has been Sri Lanka’s best performer at the Asian Games.

But Sri Lanka’s athletic team for the Guangzhou Games did not live up to expectations. There is no doubt that sprinter Shehan Ambepitiya is a talented athlete with a bright future. But who recommended him to be in the Sri Lanka team when he was nursing a leg injury. The augment that he was sent to run only in relays is a wane answer. If he had an injury and could not run in individual events, how could he run the same distance in a relay? At the end, Ambepitiya looked a mere passenger.

High jumper Manjula Kumara Wijesekera and middle distance runner Chaminda Wijekoon were the biggest disappointments. The duo has proven their class at Asian level before and were expected to be among the medallists. But both of them were completely off colour. Ever since his Sri Lanka record of 2.27m at 2004 National Championships - just before the Athens Olympics, Wijesekera has not been able to reach that, except on one other occasion. Despite the opportunities he has got to train in California and the sports scholarship cum competition opportunities, Wijesekera has not been able to produce what was expected. Wijekoon apparently has been affected by a minor injury and that would have affected his form.

It was good to see experienced sprinters Prasanna Sampath Amarasekera and Jani Chathurangani Silva back on track.

Amarasekera who has won back to back medals for Sri Lanka at the last two Asian Games, failed to make a hat-trick. He was not at his brilliant best on his return. Chandrika Subashini made a good determined attempt but the challenge was too much for the lass.

Blunders unacceptable

The blunders Sri Lanka’s relay teams did were totally unacceptable. They failed even with the basics of relays - the batton change. How could two experienced sprinters who training regularly together and run in the same team in so many meets fail to read each other in a batton change of a major event such as Asian Games?

As in the previous Asian Games, Sri Lanka’s archers, sailors and rowers had a dismal performance. One wonders as to why they are sent over and over. All what they did was to ‘fight’ for the last places in their respective events.

There was not a single praiseworthy performance by any of the Sri Lanka competitors in swimming, boxing, badminton, cycling or wushu. Sri Lanka’s medal hopes in shooting and gold too were shattered. Sri Lanka’s table tennis players showed some form by winning their first round matches.

But a big question mark hangs on the future of Sri Lanka tennis. In the past, Sri Lanka has shown good form in the Asian Oceania Zone 11 of the Davis Cup. But Sri Lanka has been struggling to regain that lost prestige over the past few years.

After the first day of the golf competition, it appeared as if Mithun Perera, the overall captain of the Sri Lanka contingent, would emulate his father Nandasena Perera, who bagged Asian Games silver in China exactly two decades ago. But young Perera failed to make use of the early advantage and slumped in the next three days.

Overhaul needed in sports

One thing is crystal clear after that pathetic performance by Sri Lanka sportsmen and women in Guangzhou - that we need a complete overhaul in the country’s sports structure. In most sport, we try same old competitors with the identical set of officials.

More importantly, most Sri Lanka coaches, irrespective of the sport they indulge in, lack knowledge to meet present challenges. They hardly make an attempt to update their knowledge and study the latest trends and techniques. They are way behind when compare to their counterparts in the Asian region.

We could get the best example from India, which showed a significant improvement to win as many as 14 gold medals to take the sixth place in the overall medals table. They also won 17 silver medals and 33 bronze medals. It looks as if India’s efforts in hosting Commonwealth Games in the previous month have paid rich dividends. India’s success is mainly due to the hard work and dedication and the commitments of their coaches. The Indian coaches, especially those who train their athletes, are well updated and regularly refreshes their knowledge.

In contrast, most of our coaches tried the same old theories they have practiced some decades ago. They don’t allow their athletes to deviate from them and most coaches regularly fight to keep the elite athletes under their wings so that they could establish their positions in tour party.

This type of unnecessary competition amongst coaches should be stopped and they should be told to work together if their ultimate goal in producing medallists for our country.

On the other hand, most sportsmen and women are not committed for their work. Unlike in the past where sports were a mere recreation, we have to be one hundred per cent dedicated and devoted in the present day sports arena. One can not take things lightly and the medallists could not be produced overnight.

Darsha - most successful athlete

If we follow the progress of some of the top most Sri Lanka athletes in recent times such as Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tillakaratne and Sriyani Kulawansa Fonseka, they have brought that unmatchable glory to Sri Lanka through hard work and dedication. They never looked for shortcuts to achieve success. They worked tirelessly until they won medals and that has been the hallmark of their exemplary careers.

There was a time Sri Lanka produced two medallists in one event. When I covered my first Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan in 1994, Jayasinghe and Darsha won the silver and the bronze respectively in their respective events. We even had equally good replacements when an athlete was forced to withdraw. When Jayasinghe was forced to withdraw from women’s 200m at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, we had Darsha as a replacement to win the gold medal.

In fact, Darsha has been the most successful Sri Lanka athlete in the history of Asian Games, having won three gold medals and a bronze in three successive Asian Games from 1994 to 2002. Apart from the 200m gold, she won the women’s 400m gold in Bangkok. Her most notable achievement was the successful title defence of her 400m gold in Busan 2002. We need athletes of that calibre. It is a gigantic task but there is enough and more raw talent. We have to make use of the uncut gems in the provinces.

We earnestly hope that Sports Minister Aluthgamage, under the blessings of the sports-loving President Mahinda Rajapaksa, would draw a visionary program to resurrect Sri Lanka sport and put that on the right path to success.