CHENNAI: As the 100m and 400m semifinals were on, one particular man in a blue shirt on the dais seemed quite excited. He wanted to follow the races closely. The reason is more than just academic. He is the president of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka and is hoping that the two athletes meet the qualifying standards for the world championships. It’s not been easy in Sri Lanka due to the political unrest and funding has not been too adequate.
Athletics Association of Sri Lanka president Palitha Fernando talked about the much fabled days of Damayanthi Darsha and Susanthika Jayasinghe and how they sparked a revolution in sprints in the country. “We are an island nation and our diet consists of fish and that is good for sprinters. It helps in muscle growth. Then we have this generation of athletes. When you start doing well in a particular sport you have followers. We had Damayanthi, we had Susanthika and they were all doing well. That’s the reason why more followed. And we have been doing well in 100m, 200m and 400m.”
Fernando said that they have started a new programme and were targetting this year’s Asian Games. “We have a very good team. If you take last Asiad timing, we would have won five to six medals. In 4x400m relay in both men’s and women’s and mixed and we can reach podium in Asian Games. We have a good long jump athlete in the women’s section. We have a sprinter (Yupun Abeykoon) who is doing 20.35s in 200m right now and 10.03s in 100m. He has a chance of winning a medal. We have a good high jumper who is training in the US. We have a good triple jump athlete and other sprinters as well.”
However, there are times when they struggle also. And in times of need, there is India by the Sri Lanka association’s side.”Whenever we need help, I have to say it’s only one country that helps us out. Funding is an issue. Earlier, the IAAF used to fund but that also has stopped. We get some funds from IOC through the National Olympic Association of Sri Lanka. But we need more.” Fernando felt the NOC of Sri Lanka should be helping more. However Athletics Federation of India helps them out whenever they are in need. “They train our coaches who train athletes. They help us in whatever way required.”