Laggard administrators leave athletes in quandary
Track and field athletes are in a dilemma due to the authorities moving at snail’s pace, which has resulted in a number of top athletes being denied hostel facilities and without a place to train for a couple of weeks.
Lock-down was first confined to Minuwagoda and Divulapitiya on 4 October with the second wave of COVID-19, which was soon followed by quarantine curfew for Gampaha District, which is where most of the top National athletes live. This resulted in a large number of athletes being under lock-down in the District with no way of training.
Some elite athletes stayed in Colombo for days without returning to their homes or usual training venues, as Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) was keen on conducting a Performance Test for National and Elite athletes on 24 and 25 October. But with quarantine curfew imposed in several areas of Colombo, including Bloemendhal Police Division,(Sugathadasa Stadium comes under their jurisdiction), SLA had no other option but to cancel the Performance Test.
With cancellation of the National trials and uncertainty that any competitions will be held this year,athletes headed home for a break following the relaxation of curfew on 22nd, before commencing off-season training targeting the National Athletics Championship.
SLA then decided to postpone the National Athletics Championship from its original dates of first week of December towards end of December. Athletes were keen to take part in the Nationals, but then ran into fresh problems with the Western Province lock-down on 29th. Initially Bloemendhal lock-down was imposed only for three days, and then Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva (who is also Chairman of the National Selection Committee), promised that Western Province lockdown will only be in effect over four days and will be lifted on 2 November.
But with the lock-down continuing beyond 2 November, several athletes – including South Asian Games Gold medalists – inquired about hostel facilities from the Director of Sports at the Department of Sports Development I.P.Wijerathne, who point blank refused entry for any athlete to the hostel.
However, Director General of the Institute of Sports Medicine (ISU), Dr.Lal Ekanayaka, was puzzled about the whole incident, as he claimed they could have provide facilities for athletes in a separate area – either in the old hostel or any other area- to stay and train for a while (ideally two weeks), and then permit them to enter the main hostel following that period, and if needed, after a negative PCR report.
“None of those requests were directed at us. I have already informed Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) well in advance to provide me with a list of athletes who will be competing at the National Championship so we could get them hostel and training facilities,” said Dr. Ekanayake.
He stated many athletes who live outstation are training without a problem, and it is only those who train in the Western Province who face these problems, which they could sort out – and which they should – since authorities have given the go ahead for the Nationals.
Meanwhile, senior coaches state that if the National Championship is actually going to be held in December, it is the responsibility of the authorities to allow adequate training time and venues for those who compete, as if not, it will not be fair by the athlete,especially if SLA wishes to make changes to the National teams based on results of the National Championship. Also with Bloemendal Police Division still under curfew, Sugathadasa Stadium, which has the country’s only usable synthetic track, will be out of bounds.
“They (Administrators) have to take decisions and act on it rather than wondering around about what’s going to happen. The world moves forward with sports despite having much bigger COVID problems than us. We are now left behind,” said a coach.
Apart from a handful of athletes who are occupying the sports hostel at the moment, others have missed at least 20 days of training by now, while those who live in the Gampaha District have missed out on six weeks training.
“Probably we could give an excuse to athletes who live in the Gampaha District as they missed out from training for a longer period of time. But athletics of the country too should adopt to the ‘New Normal’ and we have to continue, hence, we will have to update National teams based on National Championship results,” said a senior SLA official replying to a query from Ceylon Athletics.
