By Susil Premalal

Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) are planning to enact constitutional changes incorporating under the Sports Law to convert the island wide structure from Provincial to District Associations.

This would mean that development of badminton will extend through to areas which otherwise would not have had such benefits, not due to any fault of the Provincial Associations, but due to the concentration of such Associations, mainly in the main cities. It is common knowledge that some of the best athletes emanate from the hinterland and this expansion will provide more opportunity and focus for development.

The amendments were necessitated as far back as 2017, due to the requirements of the Sports Law.

SLB President, Rohan De Silva informed all present at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on July 31 that a workshop would be held during the month of August 2020, to further discuss the proposed draft constitution in detail, so that all shades of opinion can be considered, and a consensus amongst all Affiliates arrived at.

Fundamentally, what is being envisaged is a new constitution, which will concentrate on a qualitative approach with long-term goals, thus ensuring the vast development of the sport of badminton. The draft constitution has been submitted keeping with the template of the model constitution recommended by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

The AGM postponed from March 31 owing to the COVID 19 pandemic and countrywide shutdown was conducted in a very cordial and focused manner. There was no election of office bearers since this was only the first year in a four-year term.

Meanwhile, the senior national pool has commenced training since Friday, based on the players accepting a Code of Conduct, under the tutelage of two BWF Level 02 coaches, Shimal Aponso and Pradeep Welagedera. The physical status of all players, post-COVID 19 is under review and a special nutrition programme has been contracted with Hela-Keto, a specialist agency run by a team of doctors led by Dr. Subash Mendis.

The National Pool and Training Committee (NPTC) under the Chairmanship of veteran administrator Palitha Hettiarachchi, intends to focus on a squad of 10 top-players, for international duty in 2021, with the aim of acquiring world ranking within thresholds of 50 – 100 and further improvements thereafter, on an extensive programme sponsored by Lining.