Sri Lanka gears itself for back-to-back Commonwealth Games, Asian Games

Tennis and beach volleyball are two sports Sri Lanka are hosting for qualification and ranking purposes 

• NOCSL sets qualifying standards for Asian Games selection

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka will participate in about 17 sports at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a

National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka President  Suresh Subramaniam

contingent around 150 comprising athletes, coaches and officials. The Games are to be held from 28 July to 8 August with more than 5,000 athletes from 72 Commonwealth nations expected to take part.

“Because we have qualified only, we are participating in around 17 sports. We have 54 slots for individual sports and on top of that there are three team sports – women’s cricket, men’s rugby sevens and 3x3 basketball,” said National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) President Suresh Subramaniam.

So far, athletics, swimming, archery, basketball 3x3, cricket, rugby, boxing, gymnastics, judo, squash, table tennis, triathlon, weight-lifting and wrestling are the 14 sports Sri Lanka have already reached qualifying standards and will participate.

In rugby for instance Sri Lanka will be up against some of the top sides in world rugby like the All Blacks, Wallabies, Lions, Scotland, South Africa, and the chances of them getting anywhere close to winning a medal is only a dream. Rugby Sevens was first introduced to the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and Sri Lanka has taken part in all six editions, and have yet to record a single victory. “Rugby qualified on merit like cricket. If somebody qualifies on merit whether we win a medal or not it is not right, not to send a team because we are not giving the right signal to them. You have to be fair to the players, they also want to represent their country,” said Subramaniam. In terms of medals the last Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia in 2018 was Sri Lanka’s most successful. They won six medals (one silver and five bronze in weightlifting and boxing) to be ranked 31st out of 39. “For the Commonwealth Games the travel expenses have to be met by us. For the staying the IOC is arranging other facilities. We have to be mindful of the cost. We don’t know what the Sports Ministry will come up with, whether they are trying to organise a flight,” said Subramaniam.

“We come back from the Commonwealth Games and after a month in early September we go off to Hangzhou, China for the Asian Games 2022 from 10-25 September. For the Asian Games there is no qualification criteria, all the sports they are having Sri Lanka can participate in, there is no restriction. It is the largest sporting event after the Olympics,” he said.

Describing the circumstances under which Sri Lanka sent one of its largest contingents to the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018, Subramaniam stated: “It was a few months after I was elected president of the NOCSL and we were to send only a few athletes who could win medals. 

“I personally undertook to make sure that all the sports were given the chance so that we can have a benchmark to start with. Everybody was given the opportunity to go. It cost the NOCSL a lot of money but still I didn’t mind. Nearly 300 went.” “On this occasion for the 2022 Asian Games, unless the athletes have improved their standards from the last Asian Games and are ranked in Asia they are not going to be considered for selection. The criteria is already set. To be fair, a lot of sports federations are trying hard to get their players to get the international rankings. 

“The last two years everything was closed due to the coronavirus. The only way you can get ranking is to participate in events around the world. Unfortunately, except for tennis, none of them are having events in other countries.”

Subramaniam was of the view that instead of trying to go abroad and gaining international rankings and qualifications it is best if the sports federations can hold the events in Sri Lanka and let the other countries come and qualify.

“If you are going to qualify in a tournament in another country, they have a restriction on the number of players participating, but if we host the event we have no restriction of our players participating. As a result, it is a big advantage for our players and they also have home advantage. We have only to facilitate and run the event to international standards.”

“Tennis is running because we have umpires, coaches of all international standards, which is a huge advantage. We’ve already had three international events for the year and a few more are happening in the next couple of weeks. 

“Last week alone we had 18 countries playing here, another 28 foreign countries will be playing this week. All are international ranking tournaments and any number of our players can enter because they are all coming from their homes. Other sports must also follow suit,” said Subramaniam, a former president of the Sri Lanka Tennis Association.

The NOCSL chief was hopeful that Sri Lanka would qualify for a place in beach volleyball at the Commonwealth Games 2022 because the qualifying tournament is being hosted by Sri Lanka towards the end of the month.