Tehani well-prepared for Olympics: NSSF President

Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa paid a visit recently to the NSSF range facility in Kohuwala where Tehani Egodawela trains every day for the Tokyo Olympics

Shooter Tehani Egodawela is one of the nine athletes representing Sri Lanka at the Tokyo Olympic Games that will be in action from 23 July to 8 August. Accompanying these athletes are 17 officials – coaches, managers and officials.

This time Sri Lanka has three athletes who earned through direct qualification and six tripartite quota places and no wild cards. Unlike a direct qualification, the most valuable way of entering an Olympic, which is based on the athlete’s performances at world championships and qualifying meets, the tripartite quota place is a deserving entry for the athletes.

A tripartite quota place is recommended by the international sport body, specifying the event and athlete, unlike a wild card, where it is presented to a country on a particular sport.

Tehani is one of two athletes who will not have her coach in Tokyo besides showjumper Mathilda Karlsson, who was the first to guarantee an Olympic slot for Sri Lanka. Unlike Mathilda, Tehani is one of the six athletes from the lot to earn a Tripartite Commission Invitation Place, a quota presented by a three-way collaboration between the IOC, the Association of National Olympic Committees (NOC) and the International Federations of the relevant sport.

The other six athletes – shuttler Niluka Karunaratne, track athletes Yupun Abeykoon and Nimali Liyanaarachchi, swimmers Matthew Abeysinghe and Aniqah Gaffoor, gymnast Milka Gehani and judoka Chamara Dharmawardhana – will have their coaches by their sides.

“Since we had not participated in any quota competitions due to COVID-19 we had no hope of going to Olympics. In any case we had forwarded the long list to NOC which consisted of our entire national pool.   Then suddenly we get a tripartite quota, which is very different to a wild card. When the tripartite quota comes, it comes specifying the athlete and the event, it is given by the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation), who has records of the performances of our athletes and all international meets. Fortunately, the NOC had already taken copies of the passports of President and Secretary of NSSF. They have had these names included. Otherwise our shooter will be going without a coach or a manager,” stated National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) President Shirantha Peries.

No sooner the news broke about Tehani’s inclusion into the Tokyo Games, the NSSF made it a point to reach out to the Ministry of Sports and the NOC and make a plea to include her coach. Although the Sports Ministry and the NOC tried their very best the authorities in Tokyo explained that no new inclusions could be accommodated.

“We must admire the efforts of the Ministry of Sport and the NOC, they tried their best. Unlike other Olympics, this event is different because of the pandemic. Japan has a lot of entries, and they are unable to give any more places to us,” Peries explained further.

“We were lucky that the secretary of the association could accompany the athlete because he has a wealth of experience in handling the huge administrative burden involved in representation of shooting internationally due to the string of approvals which include, Sports Ministry, Ministry of Defence, Civil Aviation, Airline and confirmation from airport of arrival due to carrying guns and ammunition. Documents have to be perfect,” he added.

“Airlines even needs special approvals to fly over another country or an airspace belonging to another country when an aircraft is carrying guns or ammunitions. It’s a heavy and clear process, all these must be documented perfectly. Without an administration person who is competent to get this part done, the athlete or in this case, the shooter, will get into serious trouble. The perfect scenario would have been for the coach to also accompany the shooter.”

Though the absence of Tehani’s coach was a fact taken up seriously by critics who have no idea about the administrative task of an athlete travelling with guns and ammunition, the Sri Lankan 10m Air Rifle shooter is being well prepared by her coach with a comprehensive training schedule. To date, NSSF has taken all necessary steps on behalf of Tehani to continue training under best facilities available with the services of her coach, who is highly keen to make the shooter fully geared up with limited time in hand.

“Up to now, Tehani’s coach is attending to his task, the shooter is doing her task, the administrator is doing his task. It’s team work that’s taking place to make our athlete more confident and well prepared for the Olympics. It’s unfortunate that some, who don’t even know the background work, and those who become commentators of  an uninformed gallery, are passing on opinions without knowing in and out of the things involved,” Peries added, refuting claims that NSSF has overlooked Tehani’s wellbeing on her way to Olympics. (NSSF Media)