Mathiasz slicers through sports hypocrisy

A million reasons why carrom should be supported

Nishantha Fernando’s hopes that God will direct him in the correct path and put an end to his longstanding miseries finally came true last weekend. Fernando who went through so much of agony without proper employment during the past two years made justice to his efforts and commitment by winning the World Men’s Singles Championship at the 6th Carrom World Cup held in Colombo.

Justifying his efforts was Langley Mathiasz, the Sri Lankan coach cum manager who also happened to be one of the strong characters in organising the 6th Carrom World Cup. Mathiasz unravelled some unspoken facts. The Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) is at the moment owes rupees three million to the hosting partners Galadari Hotel. Yet according to the 20-time national champion, the performances of Sri Lanka slicers especially of Nishantha Fernando managed to take away all the trouble from their heads, at least briefly.

“This was on par the best ever World Cups ever held; the participation was high unlike the previous times. It will be a good platform to inaugurate junior competitions and then also promote the game in Sri Lanka. The game is expanding and more players are taking up this sport day after day,” he said.

“Though it was a success, we underwent so many difficulties. We were on a budget of rupees seven million and the Ministry of Sports gave us rupees two million. There was a huge deficit of five million and even after the tournament it still stands as it is. In the meantime we managed to collect two million which was used to organise the competition, the trophies, equipment for the event and other expenditures.

Despite abundant returns from the competition, the CFSL officials are in dire-straits and are in the guessing as to what to expect next. They are yet to officially receive the final invoice from Galadari Hotel but when they do in the course of a few days, the CFSL officials will be engaged in a realistic of contests.

“Now our guess is on how to pay the hotel bill which will amount to five million. We can pay two million and there will be a shortage of three million to settle the total bill of Galadari Hotel who have been very gracious in hosting the successful event. They provided us the best rates with maximum facilities to hold the event. We are waiting with our fingers crossed for a fitting response from the top officials.”

According to what the competitors and officials from other countries had to comment, the World Cup competition held in Sri Lanka was one of the best events they have ever taken part. Despite the burden of a cash shortage, Sri Lanka managed to hold the event in a big way and end up with one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

“There has been a lot of hard work from our national players and the officials of CFSL. But it is disheartening to see the corporate sector still reluctant to support the sport except for a handful of companies.”

Mathiasz appraised that the efforts put up by the girls who competed in the women’s doubles final, Yashika Rahubadda and Madhushika Kanchanamala, was overshadowed by the men’s singles title.

“As the national coach and the manager I’m proud of the achieve- ments. I expected a women’s player to reach in the singles final but our doubles players did it. Our men’s team was really overwhelming. We are not sorry nor do we feel pity that we lost our defending title. Overall we were runners-up in the men’s and women’s categories next to India who are the stronghold in world carrom,” Mathiasz asserted.

“Nishantha is one of the best players in the island but I categorised him as one of the top players in the world which he has already proved. I can also consider Chamil Cooray into this league. Both play in two different types; Nishantha is an attacker while Chamil is good at spotting and slicing,” explained Mathiasz who went on to say; “Nishantha is just playing in the same style as I did during my days. I was expecting these two players to win the doubles, because they are the best in the trade but they won a bronze. At this moment our players are in good shape and we just hope everything will remain as it is for some time, until we gather financial support from a benefactor.”

Mathiasz, who coaches both these players at national level, has played against both Fernando and Cooray. In 2000 when Mathiasz last played a nationals; he beat them and won the event. But Nishantha (33) who was in top form at the time when Mathiasz retired beat him in the final at another tournament which then proved of another player in the making for the future.

However on Friday the Ministry of Sports revealed that it will grant Nishantha a cash prize and employment from the government. Accordingly Fernando will be rewarded with a cash sum of rupees one million and a job at the Foreign Employment Bureau. Nishantha, a father of two children and still unemployed at a time was contemplating on giving up carrom as he found it hard to feed his family without proper employment. The only source of income until Foreign Employment Promotions Minister Dilan Perera made arrangements to employ Nishantha in the Foreign Employment Bureau was by coaching school teams.