Sri Lanka’s ambition to produce an Olympic medal winner looks to be moving in the correct direction. First the formation of a high performance program under Silver medal winner Susanthika Jayasinghe and now the president of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Suresh Subramanium has made an official request from Doha, Qatar to train the athletes.
“On seeing the modern and best facilities available in Doha and the World, I asked them whether the Sri Lankan athletes can be sent for advanced training there.
They told me to make an official request which I have done for the benefit of our athletes in the future,” said Subramanium. He added that the winner of the high jump event at the World Athletic Championship was a Qatari which was the result of training with the best of facilities.
The facilities for long jump, high jump and sprints events were excellent and with a little knowledge on the technical side the Sri Lankan athletes should be able to become medal winners in the future.
“We have a set of athletes who are under this high performance program and once the green light is given for them to go to Qatar they will be sent for advanced training there,” said Subramanium.
The Academy is called Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) and the role AZF’s member organisations – Aspire Academy, Aspetar and Aspire Logistics – are playing is transforming Qatar into an international sports hub.
Several delegates from the Asian region have visited the AZF and are highly impressed with the set up for achieving higher standards in sports.