Sri Lanka athletic officials indulged in night frolics and drinking parties at comfortable hotels while athletes roughed it out on cement floors feeding on scanty meals at the National Sports Festival in Nawalapitiya which concluded last Tuesday, an on-the-spot investigation by Ceylon Today revealed.
Athletes, many of whom were young women from the villages, were forced to confine themselves without the basic facilities as they slept on the ground in schools and ate food that some of them said were fit for animal consumption.
Some of the athletes who slept on the floor were champion relay runners WKA Nimali, Gayanthika Abeyratne and Eranga Dulakshi who became one of the biggest draws from the southern province.
A coach who attended one such night drinking binge said he was ashamed that he refused to attend any more parties as he was unable to face his athletes who were treated like refugees.
“How can I attend a party when my athletes were made to sleep on the floor and faced numerous hardships”, asked one coach.
He skipped a grand party on the second night.
Another athlete said he would have had a decent meal to eat had he stayed at home and not contested what some pundits tout as the Olympics of Sri Lanka.
“The food was tasteless, noodles after a heavy day out on the field. Is this what sportsmen are supposed to eat and produce their best? asked one athlete.
The pompous boast by Ranjani Jayakody, the sports ministry’s director general, of a meal allowance of Rs.500 for each athlete for a day was nothing but a politico’s bluff.
One athlete said the two zero digits were missing in the Rs 500 allowance going by the food he was made to eat.
One grouse is that meet organizers take ten steps back when they take one step forward and expecting improvements to a championship that started in 1972 would be a mere pipe dream for athletes.
“It seems the standard of this meet hadn’t improved from the time I contested when athletes slept on the floor. They still sleep on the floor. With this kind of treatment for athletes you cannot expect any development of sports”, said former Sri Lanka 400 metres Asian Gold medalist Sugath Tillekaratne.
Tillekeratne is one of many top shelf recognized past athletes who have been sidelined from playing a part in the welfare of track and field sports due to corruption and nepotism.
