World Junior C'ships: Athletes to fly finally
The junior national athletics team, who were stranded in Colombo due to an administrative mishap were finally able to take wings to Cali, Columbia after a timely intervention by the Minister of Sports.
The seven athletes were to leave for the World Under-20 Athletic Championship 2022 in Colombia, but were kept in the dark by the Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA), who failed to purchase the air tickets due to lack of funds.
Sri Lanka has been gearing up for months, targeting the most important junior athletic global showdown to be held from August 1 to 6 at the Estadio Olimpico Pascual Guerrero in Cali, Colombia. Seven aspiring athletes qualified for the topmost event, but a blunder in booking the air tickets has flushed all hopes in taking part at the event, down the drain.
All possible steps have been taken during the whole process, beginning from selecting, training and making arrangements to all logistical issues, including documentations to enter athletes to the event and obtaining visas, but all efforts were proved a vain in the end.
According to sources, SLA has made all necessary arrangements to purchase the air tickets and were waiting for the final approval of the Ministry of Sports, who will be funding the team’s airfare. SLA had even made tentative bookings, which according to new system regulations, are automatically cancelled after 24 hours since making the reservation.
But SLA had been in pursuit the Ministry of Sports for the final approval of the team, after which funds will be released to SLA. Yet, the approval has been granted on Wednesday (27), after which SLA would be able to purchase the air tickets for the intended travel to Colombia.
However, despite making continuous ‘tentative booking’ attempts, SLA were shocked with the eventual result when they wanted to confirm the air tickets after Wednesday, only to find that no seats were available for the next few days.
Adding salt to the wound, the Treasurer of SLA is currently in Birmingham, in England with the Commonwealth Games Sri Lanka contingent, which makes any of their attempts in transferring or withdrawing the funds granted by the Ministry of Sports to the pay the travel agent, an impossible task without his authorisation.
Initially the process of obtaining visas was delayed despite the IAAF, the global athletic body, providing necessary assistance. SLA had teething issues primarily in making bookings ‘tentative’ or ‘confirmed’ without valid visas. But the matter was resolved earlier this week, leaving SLA with the final approval from the ministry.
By the time SLA had obtained the final approvals from the relevant authorities, prices of air tickets have skyrocketed due to greater demand. SLA had failed to explain if it had designated an official to directly look into the logistical and technical needs of the Sri Lanka junior team, at a time when the Commonwealth Games are also on.
However, SLA had faced similar situations, where several teams had represented Sri Lanka at different events and venues, raising a huge question mark on how could matters go wrong under veteran officials with years of experience in managing much harder situations.
The team that was supposed to travel to Colombia included Kaveesha Bandara (Men’s 110m Hurdles), Dhanuka Darshana (Men’s 400m Hurdles), Pasindu Malshan (Men’s Triple Jump), Rumesh Tharanga (Men’s Javelin Throw), Hirusha Hashen (Men’s Long Jump), Amesha Hettiarachchi (Women’s 400m Hurdles) and Tharushi Dissanayake (Women’s 400m).
In displeasure to the development, the aggrieved athletes and their parents even had stayed overnight at the pavilion of the Torrington Sports Complex in protest of what occurred, demanding justice to the administrative blunder they are not responsible of. The issue has sparked a rift within the SLA administration and is said to affect the future of one or more official directly and indirectly responsible for the mishap.
Meanwhile the Minister of Sports, Roshan Ranasinghe, issuing an official statement expressed his concern and shock on the latest development, despite the Ministry of Sports providing the necessary funds.
Minister has highlighted the importance of giving priority to participants, mainly athletes, at any given overseas event, and had advised relevant officials (ministry and associations) not to focus heavily on their own wellbeing on such tours.
“These kids were to be funded through the Sports Development Fund, through our Sports Development Department, and its Director General was advised to update me on all requirements needed. But the progress was very poor and by this Friday (29) I was informed that the Director General and even the President of SLA were not in Sri Lanka. They were supposed to address this issue before taking on other assignments. Henceforth ministry and association officials would have to seek official permission to take part in any international assignment, especially after what happened to these poor kids,” the Minister stated. Contrary to Minister's statement athletic president is in Sri Lanka.
The team will now fly to Colombia via Brazil in two batches according to an official press release issued by the Ministry of Sports last evening. The first batch comprising, Tharushi Karunaratne, Hirusha Heshan and Kaveesha Bandara leaving early today accompanied by team official Badra Gunawardena.
The second batch of Amesha Hettiarachchi, Dhanuka Darshana, Pasindu Malshan and Rumesh Tharanga will leave the island later today accompanied by coach cum manager Susantha Fernando.