Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) has once again published a new set of Code of Conduct rules for players, coaches and managers intended to ensure and maintain an orderly and fair administration as well as protect the rights of players, officials and sponsors.
There is also a Declaration that states that all players and officials who take part in local or international events sanctioned under SLB should sign the Code of Conduct form. This includes players in training squads or the national pool and failure to sign would result in these players and officials being left out of the pool or any event conducted through the SLB.
This Law implies that no matter how good a player can be he will not be considered to participate in local tournaments or be selected to the national team for participation in international events.
There have been instances where a player’s level of standard rises so much but there is no guarantee that even a champion like Niluka Karunaratne can be been beaten and has been defeated in a local tournament. Players who do not sign this Code of Conduct will not be able to contest local tournaments that is the basis for national selection.
It is a clear signal that no matter how good a player is, he can be shut out from the game altogether and will be prevented from playing at all levels.
This is because many of the leading players are not attending training and pool practices conducted by SLB and have joined a training school started by a former player with a foreign coach.
They will be assured of reaching higher standards under this foreign coach at this newly formed badminton academy but it will definitely lead to more controversy as most of these players will be left with no option but to take up the matter with the human rights commission or take legal action against the SLB.
There is another Law that states that any player or official taking part in any ranking or international tournament shall only be attired in the clothing and shoes provided by the sponsors of SLB.
Questions are being raised that if this is the case how come Niluka Karunaratne was in attire provided by a sponsor known as Yonex which is his private sponsor? “Why was this law bent only for Niluka while any other player would have being suspended from the sport,” asked one analyst.