A special Prime Minister’s Sports Fund with an initial allocation of Rs. 50 million has been created and the funds will be presented to the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka on August 7.
It will target high-performance athletes who have a realistic chance of winning medals at international Games for the country.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe will present the money to Suresh Subramaniam, president of the NOC of Sri Lanka, at a ceremony at Temple Trees where the 184-strong athletic contingent (29 sports) bound for the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang later this month will be present.
“This is a massive boost for local sport. For the very first time, the government of Sri Lanka is rolling up its sleeves and getting involved in sport. This is just the start for we have been assured o fmore funds in the future. There will be an annual provision for sports,”revealed an elated Subramaniam.
The financial bonanza will be used solely on athletes who show the potential to win the country honours at the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and South Asian Games.
“This money will not be spent on the development of athletes. We know grass roots development is key but that is not our job. That is the role of the national federations. Our focus will be on helping elite athletes realise their medal dreams by giving them every assistance from coaching and technical assistance to nutrition and sports medicine,” Subramaniam added.
A committee chaired by Saman Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister, will be set up to oversee this project. The committee will also include Dinesh Weerakkody, chairman of Hatton National Bank and close aide to the Prime Minister, Maxwell de Silva, secretary general of the NOC of Sri Lanka, as well as one senior official each from the Ministry of Sport, Treasury and President’s Secretariat.
“This fund will be a huge help for talented athletes,” said Maxwell de Silva. “There are a lot of young talent, especially from outside Colombo, who have no access to funds. For example, this will allow them to just focus on training instead of having to worry about how to find money to buy nutrients.”
The initial goal according to De Silva will be to identify two or three sports which have the best chance to win medals at international multi-sports Games.
“We can’t look at all 31 sports under our umbrella. That will be unrealistic right now. The way forward is to target a few sports which have the best chance and help those athletes who show promise. We can also look at individual athletes who have hit the limelight in other sports and help them on an individual basis,” De Silva added. The long-term goal of the National Olympic Committee is to use the Prime Minister’s Sports Fund to set up an elite sports academy styled on perhaps the Australian Institute of Sports which is focused on giving the best sportsmen and women the chance to vie for Olympic glory.
“That will be our long-term plan, setting up a high-performance academy under our jurisdiction,” Subramaniam revealed. “We will need the government as well as the business community to get behind this goal. But this is a good start.”