TALENT IS NOT THE ISSUE – ARJUNA
Yogananda Wijesundera felicitation ceremony
Former World Cup winning cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga yesterday questioned the quality of cricketers being picked for the national side, while cautioning against having unrealistic expectations from new head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe.
The former captain made these comments at a felicitation ceremony held by the Save the Sport Organisation at the Olympic House. Veteran athletics coach Yogananda Wijesundera was felictated at this event to mark his 50th year in sports and Minister Ranatunga was Chief Guest at the occasion.
“Selections for the Sri Lanka Cricket team are not being done in the proper manner. There are a whole lot of talented cricketers in the island. The question is whether the best available is being picked,” stated Ranatunga, who is now a Cabinet Minister.
“Some expect Chandika Haturusinghe as the Sri Lanka coach to perform wonders. If that happens all is well. But if the team loses the coach will be massacred.”
He said that national team selections were biased towards certain clubs, saying a young player in the Sri Lanka Ports Authority team had to leave the club before earning a national call up.
“When I was the Sri Lanka Ports Minister, a young lad working in the Port approached me and said that he was leaving the Ports Authority in order to play cricket. Subsequently this lad left the Port and joined the club of his choice and is now playing for the Sri Lanka cricket team,” he said.
“Everybody knows who this lad is. Today the Sri Lanka team is being selected by club officials. Sports is big business today. Those days there were ministers who looked after cricketers. Even though they did not know much about the sport but they defended and protected the players concerned.”
The Minister also said that politicians who helped cricket in the past were J.R. Jayewardene, Dr. N.M. Perera, Gamini Dissanayake, Tyronne Fernando, Lakshman Jayakody and several others who helped in cricket administration. The only person who had not played cricket amongst them was Gamini Dissanayake. When he became Cricket Board President, he had not even yielded a cricket bat, Ranatunga said adding, that the late Dissanayake had put forward several development plans for cricket but did not interfere in the administration of the game.
“Today officials are not paying heed to veteran cricketers. Now, the administrators are not giving places to veteran cricketers. I think they do not understand the game so well,” Ranatunga said.
“Most officials today have not played at any level and have not held a ball in their entire lives. The time is now ripe for singers who lambast the cricketers. This kind of treatment was faced by athletes such as Susanthika Jayasinghe, an Olympic medalist. The sportsmen and sportswomen of today are facing such unwanted problems.”
“Whether the sportsmen and sportswomen of the country are receiving all the benefits is a big question posed to this Government. As a minister of this Government I feel very sorry for them.”
Meanwhile, Wijesundera said that in his 50 years of involvement in sports, this is the first time that he has been felicitated in such a grand manner but he was sad that the Sports Ministry was unable to hold such a function.
Continuing Yogananda said that in his days his parallel coaches never worked for money.
“They dedicated their lives to promote sports. Today’s coaches are selling the sport. These are some of the coaches we have today. There are two kinds of coaches. One kind is selling the sport and the other dictates their lives to promote sports. There is a Coaching Association but nothing is done by them to promote sports. Because of Internet Coaches, sports has suffered. They try to bring about success through drugs and other underhand methods. If any coach is unable to give lectures, he cannot be a good coach. Experienced international coaches never try to share their experiences.”
Yogananda Wijesundera received a special cash award from Shehara Jayawardena, Joint Managing Director, Mclarens and Minister Ranatunga presented a memento.