Lewke's timely proposal should begin 'training revolution'

The new Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC), Rtd. DIG Nimal Lewke has commenced his duties with a sensible step by recommending a National Long Distance Academy (NLDA) to be established in Nuwara Eliya.

Lewke has tremendous experience as a player, coach and a former President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union. It was under his leadership that motivation and mind games were introduced to the national rugby pool. Having studied the dearth of top long distance athletes who could excel at international level, Lewke has made a timely suggestion to Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake to set up a NLDA which has been a long-felt need.

Needless to state the pathetic plight of Sri Lanka athletics at present, not only track and field but almost all Olympic sport! Except for the fluke men's T20 cricket title at the last 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Sri Lanka has not won an Asian Games medal in any sport since 2002. That alone speaks the voles of decline in local sport. It is even worse when it comes to athletics.

Since the retirements of Susanthika Jayasinghe, Damayanthi Darsha, Sugath Tillakaratne and Sriyani Kulawansa, Sri Lanka has failed to find suitable replacements who could even come somewhere near the timings of those champion athletes. Jayasinghe (women's 100m) and Darsha (women's 400m) were the last Sri Lankan athletes to win gold medals in Asian Game in their respective finals at the Doha 2006 Games.

Despite all the talking and successive much-publicised development projects, Sri Lanka has failed to produce a single Asian Games athletic gold in three successive Games in Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014. If Sri Lanka is to produce an Asian Gales athletic gold medallist even after a lapse of 16 years at the next Games in Indonesia in 2018, Sri Lanka must launch a productive development program even at this late stage.

In this context, Lewke's proposal to inaugurate the NLDA is a welcome move so that the ideal climatic and geographical conditions in Nuwara Eliya could help Sri Lanka to regain its lost prestige in long distance running.

They have earmarked the right man for the job - to advice the academy even as a consultant in former Asian Games gold medallist S.L.B. Rosa, a product from Badulla. As Lewke has pointed out, almost all top long distance runners produced by Sri Lanka are from the hills. Hence, the selection of the location is also the most appropriate.

We must also take immediate action to form a strong national athletic super pool with the elite national-level athletes. The expertise of renowned coaches such as Sunil Gunawardena, K.G. Nadra Gunawardena and Dervin Perera could be used to train the national short distance pool. Similarly, separate coaches should be assigned to train different pools in middle distance running, jumps and throws.

The Sports Ministry must play a key role in finding financial support to maintain these national super pools, a concept which had done wonders and given high returns when S.B. Dissanayake was the Sports Minister in mid 90s. It was his successful strategies and keen interest that led Sri Lanka to produce athletic medallists at IAAF World Championships, Olympic Games and Asian Games within a space of four years. Thanks to his untiring efforts in finding separate sponsors for the elite athletes, and the then People's Alliance Government, led by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, move to provide employment, houses and vehicles to the top most athletes had paid rich dividends.

We must make a similar approach if Sri Lanka is to strike gold again. True, that the Government alone can't spend billions of rupees that are needed for the development of sport. But as former Minister Dissanayake had done successfully, the Government could mediate and find a sponsor each for all top national level sport under the state patronage. In addition, separate sponsorships should be secured for the medal prospects to meet their additional expenses on overseas training, nutrition and international competition experience. These are nothing new but strategies which had been successfully implemented during Minister Dissanayake's era.

Producing medallists is not the direct business of the National Olympic Committee. As NOC President Hemasiri Fernando had rightly pointed out time and again, the NOC is not a factory that produces gold medals. But the NOC could certainly facilitate the mission of producing medallists by guiding them for several Olympic solidarity courses and training workshops. But the main responsibility lies with the respective National Sports Associations (NSAs) and the Ministry of Sports. If the NSAs combine effectively with the Sports Ministry under the logistical support of the NOC, producing medallists at international events is not a distant goal.

Finding finances is the main barrier which prevents the NSAs from embarking on development projects with their national pools. This is where the Sports Ministry could play an active role. The Ministry need not necessarily depend on public funds entirely. Instead, it could attract private sector sponsorships to develop sport.

But such partnership should not only be confined to the presentation of the sponsorship cheque. The commercial interests of the private sector companies which come forward to foster sport too should be looked into. For an example, if the Sports Ministry is mediating such sponsorship, it could offer some branding for the sponsor at the Sugathadasa Stadium, Diyagama Rajapaksa Stadium and the Sports Ministry grounds. Even the district stadia built by the Sports Ministry should be used for such branding to generate funds for the Ministry without being a burden to the Treasury all the time.

The NSAs too have a role to play. They too must not entirely depend on the Sports Ministry to do each and everything. The NSAs too must make a determined effort to find more sponsors or at least to look after the sponsors, in case the Sports Ministry finds one for them. They have to focus on sports marketing for which there is a tremendous prospect, if you top the right men at right place!

These are some food for thought for early preparations ahead of some key international sports events ahead - this year's IAAF World Championships and Asian Championships, 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Asian Games.