Motor sports associations request revamp of SLANA

Tuesday, 3 October 2023 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Althaf Nawaz

Several motor sports associations request the Sri Lanka Automobile National Association (SLANA), which is the governing body for motor sports in Sri Lanka, should be steered in the right direction to prevent it from becoming a hodgepodge of a certain group of people.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Sports, the Nuwara Eliya Motor Racing Club and the Royal Automobile Club Asia Sports Association have stated that SLANA is operating at the whims and fancies of a limited number of people and certain Associations are not being given the opportunity to register with the National Association. They have also highlighted that annual competitions have not been properly organised.

Therefore, the two sports clubs request that necessary measures be taken to strengthen the legal aspects and make SLANA a national association that does justice to all parties interested in motor sports. Even though it was the Englishmen who inaugurated motor sports in Sri Lanka around 1934, SLANA has not organised any international competition to date. Competitions like Gajaba Super Cross and Fox Hill, regular events in the motor sports calendar, have not been held during the last four years.

In countries like India, Malaysia and Singapore, which were behind us, automobile motor sport has advanced to the status of ‘Formula One’, while the Sri Lanka Automobile National Association is declining due to bureaucracy.

The Nuwara Eliya Motor Racing Club has been requesting membership since 2015 and has been denied membership due to the personal needs of a certain group of people. Also, the Royal Automobile Club Asia Sports Association has met all the criteria for membership in the National Association since 2017. It is a problematic situation for these two sports clubs who are deprived of membership in SLANA.

The representatives of the two sports clubs stated that although four former Sports Ministers issued letters to the Parent Body in response to the requests of the Nuwara Eliya Motor Racing Club and the Royal Automobile Club Asia Sports Association, they totally ignored these letters.

In such a situation, Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe’s attempts to set the SLANA in the right direction through a Gazette notification in accordance with the Sports Act were also temporarily stopped. This occurred after the Sports Minister dissolved the SLANA Exco-membership and appointed an interim committee.

Subsequently, some of the members of that expelled committee filed a case at the Court of Appeal and obtained an interim injunction against the Gazette notice issued preventing the activities of the SLANA.

The Nuwara Eliya Motor Racing Club and Royal Automobile Club Asia Sports Association urge the Sports Minister to file a submission and to inform the courts of the real situation to relax this injunction in order to take motor sports in Sri Lanka on the right path.