Badminton election in the offing but no hope in sight | Sunday Observer

Badminton election in the offing but no hope in sight

18 November, 2018

All affiliated clubs of Sri Lanka Badminton have agreed to conduct the Annual General Meeting when the Minister of Sports met them after the Magistrate’s Court had ordered them to conduct the election of office-bearers before March 31, 2019.

Ten affiliates were present at this meeting and current president Nishantha Jayasinghe was also invited but did not participate. Former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara dissolve the newly appointed executive committee of Sri Lanka Badminton as he deemed their appointment to be unlawful without the submission of the auditor’s report to the Auditor General. Later the Badminton World Federation (BWF) had banned Sri Lanka for the lapses.

“Sri Lanka Badminton has violated the BWF guidelines. In BWF it is the AGM that is supreme. Today at SLB individuals are supreme,” said Clarence Homer, former secretary of SLB about the current situation. “A few former national champions and me came forward to contest the elections and we won but the then Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekara dissolved the Committee for conducting the election without the Audited financial report,” added Homer.

However, Minister Jayasekara had appointed the same Committee to form an interim administration after discussions with the BWF. Homer said that after a few months he resigned due to some members violating the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between them that caused them to split.

“The MOU had clearly stated that none of the four members (Duminda, Rohan, Nishantha and Clarence) shall join or be a member of any other committee until the campaign promises are met,” noted Homer. There was so much work to do rather than going for positions. The Committee had informed Nishantha Jayasinghe not to vote for either party and to stay neutral. But Jayasinghe had voted at the NOC elections. However, the SLB Committee had agreed to go ahead even if Jayasinghe did not apologise for his actions.

When it came to attend the AGM of the BWF in Thailand the Committee had decided not to send Jayasinghe and instead sent Rohan and another official. But Jayasinghe had insisted that he should go and Rohan opted out. Since the MOU had said that if any of the four members resign all should go, Homer too resigned and that was the road for the team.

“Due to their greed to hold positions at SLB the game itself is going backwards and effecting the future players. I don’t see any change taking place in the sport. I will contest if we are given the chance to make changes in administration, but it is not going in the right direction,” observed Homer.

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