After a show by a gymnast at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa is hopeful of Sri Lanka having the potential to win medals in gymnastics at future international meets.
The National Sports Council (NSC) has also already identified gymnastics as a medal-winning sport and under the High-Performance Sports Development Program, the Sri Lanka Gymnastics Association (SLGA) received a sum of Rs 35 million from the Sports Ministry recently.
Director-General of the Sports Development Department, Amal Edirisooriya and Secretary SLGA Kapila Jeevantha signed the agreement in the presences of the Minister.
Minister Rajapaksa stressed that Milka de Silva’s participation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was a huge achievement and Sri Lanka could soon become a major force in the sport if properly managed.
He hoped that Sri Lanka will be able to make an impact at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and 2022 Asian Games in China.
The Ministry has already made arrangements to build a state-of-the-art international training center at Torrington at a cost of Rs. 70 million as infrastructure development. In addition, the National Sports Complex in Matara has been handed over to the SLGA for their administrative duties. (TBR)