Doomsday avoided as Court overrules request for injunction

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Athletics Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) and election of office bearers will go ahead as planned on Tuesday as the attempt to obtain an injunction order from Colombo District Court failed monday with the Court overruling the plaint.

Former President Maj. Gen (rtd) Palitha Fernando and incumbent President Sugath Thilakaratna will be battling it out for the presidency, with Fernando, who is also an executive committee member of Asian AA, holding a clear edge for the top post. Former Secretary and veteran sports administrator Prema Pinnewala, who is an IAAF family member with close ties to the world governing body, is set to be uncontested as Secretary.

Both of them were not eligible to contest in 2015 due to a bizarre amendment to the Sports Law that created havoc in the sporting arena in Sri Lanka and are now again eligible for election following the Sports Ministry ratifying those laws with a new set of amendments last year and early this year.

Court Case

AASL faced a possible doomsday as the Colombo District Court took up the hearing of the case filed by former athletes turned coaches, Priyantha Thanthirige and Chaminda Fonseka, seeking an injunction order against AASL holding their election scheduled for today. Had the Court issued an injunction order, consequences would have been catastrophic for athletics and athletes, as AASL could have faced an immediate ban by IAAF with their participation in Asian AA and IAAF World Championship in jeopardy.

The case that was filed stated that accepting nominations of Anila Weerasinghe, M.W. Nimalsiri, Lal Chandrakumara and A.M. Akmal were in violation of the AASL constitution as well as Sports Law. Surprisingly the two former athletes who filed the case are members of an athletic club which is not yet an affiliated body of AASL. Both of them did not submit their nomination for any post through any of the AASL member clubs.

Their complaint against the four nominations is that they are involved in coaching and judging of competitions and according to AASL Constitution, neither coaches nor judges are eligible to face the election largely due to conflict of interest that can occur in such a scenario. Nevertheless, those contestants have not been involved in such coaching or judging professionally during the last 12 months.

Whose behind injunction attempt?

It is an established fact that all four members against whom allegations have been made are supporters of Fernando’s camp, whereas both Thanthirige and Fonseka are close associates of Sugath Thilakaratne. This only indicates as to who pushed them towards this injunction order.