Lankan athletes need more foreign exposure – NOCSL

By Susil Premalal - Reporting from Birmingham

Chairman, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) Suresh Subramaniam yesterday stressed the importance of providing more overseas training and international exposure to Sri Lankan athletes to win medals at the upcoming major events.   

Subramaniam made these observations on the sidelines of the 22nd Commonwealth Games, which concluded with a colourful closing ceremony in Birmingham, England yesterday.   

The Head of the NOCSL said that most of the Sri Lankan medal winners at this year’s Commonwealth Games had prior training and preparations overseas and that experience helped them achieve their goal.   

Subramaniam noted that the NOCSL will continue to provide overseas scholarships and international training for the Sri Lankan athletes and urged the respective Sports Associations to intervene and identify the suitable person for this programme.   

He said all medal winners at the concluded Commonwealth Games including Yupun Abeykoon (Men’s 100m), Nethmi Ahinsa (wrestling), Dilanka Isuru Kumara (weightlifting) and Palitha Bandara (para-athletics) had sufficient overseas training and international exposure before coming to Birmingham.   

Subramaniam also stressed the importance of selecting talented female cricketers and the coaches to have a huge responsibility in guiding them with the necessary local and overseas training through the courtesy of the Sports Ministry.   

The NOCSL Chief also handed over all credit and honour of winning medals at the Commonwealth Games to the respective Sports Associations and their coaches.   

Meanwhile, Australia finished on top of the medals table followed by the host nation England in second place and Canada in third place.   

Out of the South Asian countries, India finished in fifth place in the medals tally while Sri Lanka secured 27th place with one Silver Medal and three Bronze Medals.