Susanthika was outstanding

We have come to the end of yet another year. As 2008 dawns on Tuesday, it's time to take stock of what had taken place this year, in the sporting world.

It is important that we measure our performances and make a careful study of the plus and minus points. That would help us to concentrate on our weak links and correct those so that 2008 would be a better year for sport than 2007.

The most notable achievement in Sri Lanka sport this year was undoubtedly the repeat feat of star woman sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe at the IAAF World championship. Ten years after winning Sri Lanka's first ever athletic medal at a world meet, the veteran sprint queen emulated her own feat in Japan last August.

It was in 1997 that Jayasinghe bagged women's 200m silver at IAAF World Championship in Athens when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the President of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka. Ten years later when he is the first citizen of the country, Jayasinghe brought that rare honour to Sri Lanka.

At a time when many believed that Jayasinghe's days were over, the dazzling gazzle proved she is still good even after a decade of her historic feat.

But as 2007 ends, there is a big question mark on Sri Lanka's athletic future as most of our top stars are due to hang up their spikes after the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

Have we groomed a good second string team of athletes for the future? The officials may say yes but the accuracy of those claims must to be proved during the coming year. When we take a look at Sri Lanka's most popular sport cricket, we have fared well, emerging runners-up to Australia at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

None expected dark horse Sri Lanka to go all the way to the finals but Mahela Jaywardene and his boys did that in style though they failed to give Australia a good run in the final.

Nevertheless, it was a creditable feat by our boys and that should be the base from which we could launch a program to regain the world crown in four years time. The Lankan team has done well in the established game as well, having beaten England 1-0 in the recently concluded three-Test home series.

But the Lankan team fared miserably, losing both the Tests they played in Australia. Despite the retirement of star bowlers in the calibre of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, Sri Lanka could not match a champion team like Australia. That proved our cricketers have more to learn when combating a professional outfit like Australia.

Spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan conquered Mount Everest of the cricketing world as a bowler. He regained the world record for most number of wickets in the history of Test cricket, going passt Shane Warne's mark of 708. Moreover, Muralitharan has done it in perfect fashion compared to the Aussie in every aspect.

The retirement of Sanath Jayasuriya from Test cricket would be a big loss for Sri Lanka. Despite a few critics who have often used a poison pen, Jayasuriya even made a blistering 78 in his farewell Test. However, cricket fans could still experience some more fireworks off his willow as he would continue his ODI career.

There have been several noteworthy performances in other sports, including boxing, tennis, badminton, soccer, rugby and volleyball. But what matters is consistency. We hope officials of these sports would implement even better programs next year.

Several Lankans have already qualified to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. They should be given every encouragement and the respective National Sports Associations (NSAs) should offer them more training and competition opportunities abroad in their lead up for the mega event.

We cannot be happy with the role played by the Sports Ministry. Though Minister Gamini Lokuge has shown reasonable interest in promoting sports and helping elite sportsmen and women, the officials at the Ministry have hardly come out with impressive projects.

The Ministry needs the services of a few dynamic individuals who could mastermind a few long and short-term projects, in order to uplift the standard of all sports.

We hope the newly-appointed National Sports Council (NSC) could come in to fill this vacuum to some extent. Its chairman, Dr. Maiya Gunasekera is an experienced and respectable former Sri Lanka rugby player and his first hand experience should help the NSC guide the Sports Minister in the right path.

Non-Cabinet Sports Minister, Bandula Basnayake is a former Sri Lanka hockey international and ex-PTI. His first hand experience too should be used to make the Sports Miniistry activities more meaningful. But to which extent the Sports Ministry has used Minister Basnayake's experience is yet to be seen.

He should be given a specific role to play for the betterment of our sports. Overall, we could be happy with the progress we have made during 2007 in the field of sports. But that's not good enough.

The future could be gloomy, unless we implement some solid programs with a vision. It's up to the sports officials to offer better training and competition facilities to our budding sportsmen and women in order to keep our future prospects alive.