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Tuesday, 17 December 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Madushka Balasuriya
As the Sri Lankan contingent returned to the island following their successful exploits at the South Asian Games in Nepal, much of the discourse at the media briefing, organised to welcome them back, continued to centre around the incessant shifting of blame surrounding a series of logistical mishaps at the start of tour.
While the 251 medals (40 Gold, 83 Silver, 128 Bronze) was among Sri Lanka’s best-ever showings at the SAG, and saw them finish third in the overall standings, the effort was made all the more impressive taking into consideration the dishevelled manner in which the campaign began.
Upon arriving in Kathmandu, the Sri Lankan Athletics squad were greeted with the news that just 34 rooms had been booked for the 68-member squad. This resulted in the women’s unit being given the rooms while the men’s unit were forced to wait around for hours. They were eventually provided accommodation with the rest of the squad, but not before being forced to lug their own baggage through the streets of Nepal to three different hotels.
The team’s ignominy was then compounded by disparaging comments made by Ministry of Sports Director General Dhammika Muthugala, in the aftermath of the incident, as he belittled the ordeal suffered by the team, labelling them a “headache”.
In a follow-up TV interview Muthugala went on to blame the event organisers – the South Asian Olympic Committee, Nepal Olympic Committee and the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) – for the mess up, reserving particular blame for the NOCSL for failing to provide proper information and guidance as to how to liaise with the organisers in Nepal.
In response, the NOCSL yesterday offered a media release outlining their version of events. In it the NOCSL refutes accusations that they had failed to provide adequate guidance to the Sports Ministry citing a meeting held between officials from the NOCSL, the Sports Ministry and SAG Executive Committee on 9-10 November to “discuss logistics and other matters pertaining to the games”.
“The NOC SL team left Nepal on the 11th, the Ministry team continued their stay until 14. Maybe during that period they could have discussed some matters pertaining to accommodation and other logistics of the athletes. Obviously that should have been time sufficient to have an insight to some of the looming hurdles,” continued the release.
“At the crucial meeting where the agenda of participation was finalised, it was decided that participating teams would arrive in the island two days before the opening ceremony and leave a day after. If there is any change to this agreement, the organising committee should be enlightened on it. However, the Ministry of Sports flew in the Sri Lanka Volleyball team on 26 November without informing the NOCSL – much against the agreed practice, as the Delegation Registration Meeting (DRM) was not concluded.
“The date for the charter flight to carry the athletes was set for 29 November and the Secretary General NOCSL [Maxwell De Silva] gave Ministry of Sports sufficient time and opportunity to submit the arrival-departure details to the host country, because it is the duty of the NOCSL to the handle the logistical aspect of it under 10C regulations,” it added.
The release goes on to offer several more instances where Sports Ministry officials had spoken with organising committee officials, furthering the narrative that there was “sufficient time to handle logistics with regard to the travel and accommodation of the athletes”.
“The general practice in the past was that all such matters like travel and accommodation is handled by the NOCSL and there have been no recorded problems in the past. The real situation in Nepal was different. The handling of logistical matters like issuing of air tickets and accommodation which the Ministry undertook to accomplish was always behind schedule. For instance the final payment for such matters was done only 25 and 27 November when it should have been done much earlier,” added the release.
“It is pertinent to note that finally the accommodation issue in earnest was handled with the intervention of some of the NOC SL staff who was already present in Nepal.”
At the media briefing yesterday NOCSL Chairman Suresh Subramaniam made it a point to congratulate his team in the midst of criticism from the Sports Ministry.
“I must congratulate first my team. My team did a fabulous job, though they didn’t get much credit. But I’m willing to give credit to them because they did a lot of work last two years to put this together,” stated Subramaniam.
“At the end of the day it is through teamwork, everybody working in unison, united together, that we can only get more medals. I’m very happy, and I’d like to congratulate every medal winner, every participant. But it’s only the beginning, a stepping stone, we have a long way to go.”
For the athletes going forward however, the overwhelming hope will be that all the organising bodies involved work together to ensure mishaps like the one in Kathmandu don’t reoccur.
