It took 52 years for Sri Lanka to win a medal at the Olympic Games after Duncan White won it first in 1948.
White won a Silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles event while Susanthika Jayasinghe also won the Silver medal in the women’s 200 metres race in 2000 after the gold medallist Marion Jones was disqualified for having taken performance enhancing drugs.
Now the National Olympic Committee has got down to do some serious business in grooming talented athletes who can hit the mark, maybe in another ten years time. They have associated with Crysbro who have come forward to sponsor a total of 20 athletes who can achieve Olympic standards and possibly win a medal.
Crysbro signed a landmark MOU with NOC to launch the ‘NOC-CRYSBRO Next Champ’ a revolutionary scholarship program on Thursday (24) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute where they will invest Rs 20 million initially for the project.
Amores Sellar, Senior Manager Sales and Marketing, Crysbro and Maxwell de Silva the Secretary of the NOC signed the MOU.
Each athlete will be presented with Rs. 1 million a year which will cover expenses such as nutrition, transportation costs, coaching fees, accommodation, logistics (such as clothing, sports gear) and medical expenses. A separate fund will be maintained to cover expenses of international events.
Initially, the NOC have selected five athletes in the age category of 14 and 16 years who have won medals in international events. These five athletes are Ravindu Jayasundara (athletics), Tharushi Karunaratne (athletics), Milka Gehani (gymnastics), Sachini Laksarani (weightlifting) and Deshan Kumara (weightlifting).
The talent scouting was done by Olympic medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, SAG medallist Ineka Cooray, former South Asia’s fastest man Shehan Ambepitiya and Olympian swimmer Reshika Udugampila.
Ambepitiya said that they contacted all National Sports Associations to nominate their top under-16 candidates for this scholarship and then interviewed each and every one of them saying they have taken into consideration their performances during the last two years. Performances at the Youth Asian Championship and Youth Olympic qualification standards were also considered when short-listing the names from which five athletes will initially launch the program.
“We will be selecting the next five athletes at the end of this month and then keep 10 slots open where young athletes will get this message and be motivated to perform in the upcoming events. We will then select the last ten considering their performance at these events,” said Ambepitiya.
Their performances at the 2021 Asian Youth Championship, Youth Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympic Games will be the criteria.
“Look at me as a good example of determination and ambition who worked towards achieving the ultimate medal at an Olympic Games,” said Susanthika Jayasinghe. “But unlike me the new athlete must aim to win a gold medal and not a silver at the Olympic Games,” added Jayasinghe.