St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya sprinter Malik Khan Fernando was probably the most affected due to the deteriorating conditions of the Sugathadasa Stadium synthetic track on day one of the Athletics Championship of the All Island Schools Games in Colombo yesterday.
A future prospect, Fernando, taking the blocks in the first heat of the Under-21 boys’ 200 metres was disqualified for a foul start, which the sprinter insisted was a result of the distorted synthetic track.
“I did not make a start. I actually lost balance when the starting block drifted back. “I told the officials before the start of the race that it was difficult to fix the block properly since the synthetic layer was coming off. But they insisted that I use the block anyway. The block shifted back just before the gun went off and I lost balance and tumbled. They took it as a foul start,” said the youngster who is one of the top three athletes in his discipline.
It could be observed even from the protective fence of the stadium that many spots including the starting area (the fourth lane) of the 200 metres is warped.
Incidentally, at some meets held in the recent past at the Sugathadasa Stadium, athletes were allowed to get a helper to hold the starting blocks from getting drifted (at starts) due to the deteriorating conditions of the track.
However athletes were not allowed to do so on Wednesday.
Officials of Fernando’s team made an appeal at the Championships’ appeal panel on Wednesday. The officials inspected the track but had not reached at a final decision whether to reschedule the particular heat or not.
B. A. Abeyratne, a Director of Sports of the Ministry of Education who is also a member of the appeals panel, said that a final decision with regard to the appeal will be taken on Thursday.
The synthetic track of the Sugathadasa Stadium was only re-laid last year.
