Bimal Wijayasinghe enters race for Sri Lanka Athletics Presidency

Presidential candidate Bimal Wijayasinghe says he is not a “parachute candidate” in Sri Lanka athletics and that his decision to contest the Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) president post was made following requests from many in the sporting community and based on his long administrative experience.

Wijayasinghe, an old boy of Ananda College, Colombo, is a past executive president of the Ananda College Old Boys’ Association and currently serves as the president of the Colonel Henry Steel Olcott Memorial Sports Foundation.

The long-delayed SLA election, which remained inactive for nearly a year, will be held under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports on March 12 at 10.00 a.m. at the Duncan White Auditorium of the Sports Ministry.

The race for the president post is expected to be a two-way contest, with Wijayasinghe facing former Sri Lanka Athletics president Sunil Gunawardena, a veteran athlete who has won international gold medals for Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, a press conference introducing Wijayasinghe and his team was held in Colombo over the weekend under the coordination of former SLA president Sunil Jayaweera.

Speaking further at the briefing, Wijayasinghe said that a majority of Sri Lanka’s athletics veterans are supporting his candidature. He pledged to implement short-term and long-term development programmes to uplift athletes, coaches, and other stakeholders involved in athletics from the school level upwards, with the aim of reviving the golden era of Sri Lankan athletics witnessed during the 1990s.

Wijayasinghe also presented a series of proposals aimed at developing athletics in the country. These include strengthening the functioning and administration of district athletics associations, conducting annual programmes to identify talented athletes by enhancing cooperation between schools, sports clubs, and district associations, and initiating development programmes for coaches and technical officials.

He further proposed implementing training programmes on sports nutrition and sports psychology alongside national training squads to produce high-performance athletes, as well as preparing a structured short-term and long-term development plan for athletics with a dedicated committee to oversee its implementation.

source: Daily Mirror