Minister draws attention to the sustenance of budding athletes

Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara pointed out that today sports are thriving in the three forces and the police and he affirmed that trend has to be changed.

Minister Jayasekera, who was the chief guest at the Third Volleyball National Convention which commenced at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute made these statements yesterday.

“I will be proposing to the Government that profit making institutions to enroll national level sportsmen. The reason for this is that national level sportsmen and women have the habit of not taking in any sports after leaving school. Due to this sports have fallen into the doldrums," he stated.

“I want to propose to the Government sector and the private sector to recruit them. There maybe about 300 athletes who are not employed. Giving them employment will be fruitful.

“Volleyball President Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has recruited almost a volleyball team to the Electricity Board. This is a good example. Perhaps others too may follow this procedure.

This is the third convention conducted by the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation. The first was held in 1984 and the second took place in 2005. The main target of this convention is to plan a four year volleyball development plan by 2022. They expect short term, mid-term and long term results from this convention.

Sri Lanka Volleyball is 100 years old now. But according to the new Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) rankings Sri Lanka is in the 77th position. According to Asian rankings Sri Lanka is in the 14th spot.

For 41 years Sri Lanka has not taken part in Asian Games. The last was in 1966. According to this four year plan, within the next two Sri Lanka should be in the Super Eight Round. After four years Sri Lanka should be within the first four countries.

“After I took over as sports minister I asked all sports bodies to give me a five year Master Plan. But only a few associations gave came up with this. The reason for this is sports associations lack sports officers who could draw up a five-year-plan.

“If other sports associations can plan out such schedules, like the Volleyball Federation, we are ready to dole out the cash for it. Some associations have not paid their international fees.

“A new indoor stadium is planned at the Sugathadasa Complex. In parallel to that a beach volleyball court too has been planned at the Sugathadasa Stadium,” stated Minister Jayasekera.

Rs. 1.5 million has been spent for the volleyball convention. Eleven volleyball sectors, involving 193 personnel, have been invited to the convention but only about 100 attended it.

The convention will be continued today. After discussions the four year plan will be submitted to the Sports Minister on September 10.