- President’s Fund to the rescue
The Ministry of Sports has reportedly taken measures to send the 12-member Sri Lanka Under-20 team of athletes to the upcoming 2024 World Junior Athletics Championship in South America, following the timely release of a sum of 30 million Rupees from the President’s Fund, an informed source told The Daily Morning Sports.
A source from the Sports Ministry said that, having been apprised of the situation faced by the junior athletes, President Ranil Wickremasinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Sports, had instructed his officials to release the aforementioned amount via the President’s Fund to facilitate the tour.
The participation of Lankan junior athletes at the event scheduled to be staged in Lima, Peru from 27-31 August was in serious doubt due to necessary funds not being released by the ministry concerned.
This was due to the Sports Ministry coffers having run dry, due to heavy expenditures incurred this year, which included the Paris Olympics, and the Paralympics, the ministry officials had contended
This situation had been exacerbated due to the Ministry having informed Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) to scour for other revenue sources, as the former had exhausted overseas competition funding for the year.
It is said that the Sri Lankan contingent to Peru, which consists of 12 athletes and five officials, are due to leave in two batches, with the first taking wing today (23), and the remaining batch to fly out on Saturday (24).
The forthcoming event also represents a rare opportunity for budding athletes in this country to showcase their talents on the global stage.
Two years ago, the athletes who had qualified for the same event held in Columbia had faced similar challenges.
Due to delays in obtaining visas, the team had arrived after the tournament had already commenced.
As an outcome of it, some athletes had been forced to dash directly from the airport to their competition events, severely impacting their performance.
The Sri Lanka team
Boys: Meron Wijesinghe (100 m, 4x100 m), Deneth Weeraratne (100 m, 4x100 m), Indusara Vidushan (200 m, 4x100 m), Kaushal Thamel (200 m, 4x100 m), Ayesh Miranga (4x100 m), Jathya Kirulu (400 m), Ayomal Akalanka (400 m Hurdles), Lesandu Arthavidu (High Jump), Tharusha Mendis (High Jump), Sandun Koshala (100 m Hurdles)
Girls: Jithma Wijethunga (400 m), Madushani Herath (Long Jump & Triple Jump)
(JK)