Investing for the future

Sri Lanka's dream of maintaining their dominance in women's sprint events was shattered with the shock exit of Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe and three-time Asian Games gold medallist Damayahthi Darsha from the 2006 Asian Grand Prix series.

While Darsha decided to keep away due to an injury, just days before the three-leg series, a similar leg injury forced the 30-year-old Sydney Games medallist to withdraw after the first race in Bangkok.

It was pity that the two former sprint queens could not compete. Many expected a face to face confrontation between Darsha and compatriot Jayasinghe after several years in a women's 200m dash. But it was not to be as an old injury gave no option to Darsha, to withdraw from the series.

It seems to be the end of road for Jayasinghe, who rewrote Sri Lanka's sporting history with an Olympic medal after 52 years and an IAAF World championship medal for the first time ever. But she has never been at her brilliant best since winning the women's 100m gold at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. Darsha, who won the women's 400m gold at the last Asian Games, too has failed to regain her old rhythm.

The duo has been nursing their respective injuries for a few years now and it seems that they may not be able to overcome those completely to regain their brilliant best. It is a pity, but one has to accept the fact that this type of injuries would come with aging. On the other hand, the facilities offered in a country like ours are not good enough for a professional sportsman or woman to treat their injuries.

What a difference a highly qualified physiotherapist could do was evident when Australian Alex Kaounturi played a prominent role with an excellent service to Sri Lanka's 1996 World cup winning champion cricket team. There were hardly any major injuries to our cricketers when he took care of the Sri Lanka cricket team.

Unfortunately, Sri Lanka athletics, or any other sport for that matter, did not have a professional man like that to keep the sportsmen and women in good shape. World class athletes like Jayasinghe and Darsha need services of a professional physiotherapist but they never had that luxury. If not, their careers would not have been affected so regularly by injury problems.

Despite facing numerous obstacles, sprinters Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Prasanna Amarasekera have been able to maintain their supremacy, winning the first two places respectively in the 400m at the first two Asian Grand Prix meets in Bangkok and Bangalore. They are sure to do the same in Pune too.

But that is far below what is expected from Sri Lanka. Menaka Wickremasinghe finished fourth in both Bangkok and Bangalore but her performances have never been good enough to go beyond that position at Asian level. Hence, we have to understand the talent that would be left over once the elite athletes like Jayasinghe, Darsha, Rohan Pradeep and Sugath Tillakaratne retire by next year or so.

On the other hand, India has made steady progress during the last couple of years and is well set to make a clean sweep when Sri Lanka hosts the 10th South Asian Games in three months time. As it looks now, we would never be able to better that record 15 athletic gold medals won at the 1991 South Asian Games in Colombo. India is ready to tame the lions in their own den.

While India dominated in long distance and field events, it was Sri Lanka which has produced champion sprinters in this region. But we have almost lost that stronghold too and by next year, we may not have a single athlete to challenge at world level.

It is a pathetic situation but our athletic administrators have not implemented any constructive program to groom athletes for the future. From time to time, they claim to have launched programs to groom youngsters, but we do not see any results or products. We have come to a situation where we could not live on Darsha or Jayasinghe any more.

It is unfair to expect the same from Darsha for the last 16 years. With hardly any facilities or incentives, we expect the same athletes to win races. They are not machines. Even a machine would need regular service and a proper technician for maintenance work. But our 'running machines' are not maintained properly.

Hence, our athletic future looks gloomy with no expectations or a program with a vision. The new AASL ex-co seems to be doing something but will that be good enough to meet the present challenges is left to be seen. Our budding athletes should be afforded more competitions, better coaching by experts and greater facilities. We have to make an investment for the future!