Sri Lanka’s Misery At Commonwealth Games 2014

By Helasingha Bandara -August 8, 2014 |

While other nations battle on the field of sports for national pride, the people representing our nation battle to secure a place on the list to go on a free holiday, a wily purpose.  A bronze medal in Weight Lifting in the recently concluded Glasgow Commonwealth games is enough evidence that our purpose, our attitude and our strategy in this regard are completely off track.

The Commonwealth games came to the beautiful city of Glasgow in Scotland. Both the opening and closing ceremonies were fun filled combined with Scottish humour, Glasgow friendliness and were much appreciated by all parties. Individual athletes, teams and countries were highlighted as victorious and many a tear of joy were shed. We the Sri Lankans, watched with great expectations but had to bear with disappointment after disappointment. One report said that the Sri Lanka contingent had 156 athletes. If that was correct, with the officials it could have been close to 200 people travelling that far on the money that the poor people of the country sweat to earn. The waste can be justified if our athletes compete at an acceptable standard despite not winning. It was quite the opposite. In the track and field events no one could reach even a final, why?

The reasons can be found in the only highlights of Sri Lanka participation at the 2014 games.

Highlight 1, riding on the motorway.

British media reported that some Sri Lankan athletes (cyclists) had gone on to a very busy motorway for a practice session and the police had to remove them. In fact at the opening ceremony, within the spectacle this incident was particularly ridiculed on the television screens across the UK and on millions of other screens all over Commonwealth.                   Read More