Fernando, Pinnewale set to be President and Secretary

Former President Maj. Gen. Palitha Fernando holds the edge for the post of President, while former Secretary Prema Pinnewale is set to be uncontested for the post of Secretary, as nominations for the Athletics Association (AASL) election closed on 17th .

Along with Fernando, present President and former Olympian Sugath Thilakaratne and former Secretary and Vice President G.L.S. Perera submitted their nominations for the Presidency. It appears that GLS has submitted his nomination for the post of President as a contingency in case Fernando’s nomination gets rejected, even though there is no reason that can happen at the moment.

Both G.L.S. Perera and Sugath Thilakarathne have submitted their nominations for the post of Vice President too. A total of 22 member clubs have nominated Fernando’s name for the Presidency, while only four have nominated Thilakarathne for the post. A total of seven nominations, including four for the Vice Presidency, have been rejected due to incomplete applications. Some veterans in the Athletics administrations such as Col, Manjula Perera, Col. Sudath Madugalle, Sampath Jayasena and Bernard Perera’s nominations have been rejected.

All of them could appeal with completed applications and certificates on or before 20 April and any objections on present nominees can be presented during the AASL meeting the same day. The AASL election 2017 is set to be held on 8 May, though AASL has still not received their auditor general’s report on the financial statements. Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara recently announced he won’t allow National Sports Associations to conduct elections without the Auditor General’s report. But AALS sources said they are confident that they can get it before the election date.

Full List of Nomination

President – Maj. Gen Palitha Fernando, GLS Perera, Sugath Thilakaratne

Secretary –Prema Pinnawela

Treasure –Shantha Silva

Assistant Secretary – Bernad Perera (Rejected), Elamberen(Rejected)

Assistant Treasure – HA Upali , Sampath Jayasena (Rejected) ,K.Sundararajan (Rejected)

Recorder-Saman Kumara Guanawardane

Vice Presidents (7 post) – GLS Perera, Sugath Thilakaratne , Lal Chandrakumara, HW Nimalsiri , Anil Weerasinghe, AM Akmal , Udeni Kanchanamala ,Irangani Rupasinghe, Nayanthi Kumari, Upali Kumarasiri, Prashan Indika, NG Wimaladasa, Col Manjula Perera (Rejected) , Col.Sudath Madugalle(Rejected), Col. Chandana Ranaweera (Rejected), S.Jegeneethan (Rejected),Wijeneethan