NILUKA -MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Country’s sports fraternity is up in arms against the constant pampering of badminton ‘super-star’ Niluka Karunaratne by sports authorities despite the former Royal College player failing to justify the colossal investment on him.
The 29-year-old shuttler is the recipient of US$ 1500 (approximately Rs. 202,000 at current exchange rate) monthly from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after his name was recommended for the Olympic Scholarship for Athletes “Rio 2016” by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC), an investment far from any justification.
Niluka is currently ranked 147th, behind his brother Dinuka who is ranked 110th, in the world.
Niluka has been receiving US$ 1000 monthly since 2011 before getting an increase this year and was also heavily funded by the Sports Ministry in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics.
According to the Sports Ministry his journey to London 2012 had cost the country a staggering 10.3 million rupees, a sum that was not even invested in making Susanthika Jayasinghe, the legendary Sri Lankan sprinter who won a silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. But his dream debut at the London 2012 was cut short by Indian Kashyap Perupalli in the pre-quarters with a 2-1 defeat.
Having spent a colossal sum on him, one would expect the 29-year-old to prove that he is no ordinary athlete and he is among the best in the trade but years passed by and the sports fraternity is left with the realization that Niluka is in fact an ordinary athlete.
These investments however are at the expense of more deserving athletes particularly marathoners Anuradha Indrajith Cooray and Niluka Rajasekara who have already booked their berths at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and have been desperate for financial assistance for training.
For instance Cooray, who established a new Sri Lankan record at the 2015 London marathon breaking a 40-year-old national record running a 42-km stretch against all odds to book his ticket to Rio, has no government patronage.
“When we got these scholarships, we wrote to every association requesting them for names. We selected five based on their recommendation. I do not think we have been unfair by anyone,” explained NOC secretary Maxwell de Silva.
De Silva admitted that they neither evaluate the applications nor their performances but go by the recommendations of the member associations in nominating the scholarship recipients.
Niluka has won many level four championships around the world (international series and future series), a strategy used by the 11-time national champion to improve his world ranking.
This strategy cannot be faulted as he is working on a place at the Rio Olympics, just as he did in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics but that does not necessarily mean Niluka has improved as a player. Soon after his Olympic dream was cut short his then coach Young Man Kim of Korea said that if Niluka was serious about competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, he should play some super-series matches rather than the lower level competitions.
“It’s important for him to play in these super series to gain experience and exposure to be successful at the top level. These minor competitions will not take him anywhere. He must play in super series events if he wants to be successful at the Olympics, Asian Games or at the Commonwealth Games level,” Kim was quoted as saying. However despite his advice Niluka has continued to play only in minor competitions instead of looking for professional help to boost his career and he has enrolled his father Louie as his coach. Documents obtained by the Daily Mirror reveal that Niluka has paid Rs. 40,000 monthly to his father as payment for coaching. Louie, a former national player, has been a professional coach but his credentials to coach a player of Niluka’s caliber is of serious doubts. He has also been paying a monthly allowance of Rs. 30,000 to Ernsley Perera, his uncle, as his physiotherapist. Perera is not a registered physiotherapist. Disgruntled athletes however charge that the NOC, the local representative of the Olympic Movement has blatantly ignored the principle of fair play as it has continued to support one while turning its back on deserving athletes.