Sanga and Mahela snub new Minister's NSC meeting
Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara are among the eight former members of the National Sports Council (NSC) who snubbed a meeting chaired by the new Minister of Sports Thenuka Vidanagamage to discuss the future of Sri Lanka sports and NSC.
Jayawardena was the former chairman of the NSC while Sangakkara served as a member but both were among many prominent people who supported the ongoing protest calling for resignations of the President and Government over a worsening economic crisis.
The NSC ceased to function when former Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa resigned from his Ministerial portfolio along with the other Cabinet Ministers responding to public demands.
Additionally, Jayawardena also sent a letter of resignation on behalf of the entire committee in response to the people’s calling, before making loud calls supporting the people’s movement for better governance.
Both cricketers are currently serving their respective franchises at the Indian Premier League (IPL) and were invited to join the meeting via zoom but both turned it down.
The new Minister however wants the same committee to continue but it remains doubtful whether the two former skippers will join ranks again.
Under Jayawardena’s leadership, the committee introduced several progressive steps to develop the standard of sports including clustering of sports according to medal prospects at international competitions, creating a high-performance structure and proposing far-reaching amendments to the Sports Law to empower the National Sports Associations.
“My intention is to carry on with the suggestions and recommendations of the NSC. I have no interest in appointing a new committee,” a release from the Minister said.
“There are six members joining this meeting today, with three joining remotely. These members have done a lot of hard work during the last 18 months. We need to appoint the NSC soon and I invite you all to join hands”.
Out of the people who joined the meeting, some have expressed their willingness to rejoin to carry on with the programmes the NSC introduced during the last 18 months.
“We will discuss with the rest who missed the meeting on Friday and decide the next course of action as we resigned as a team. But certainly, there are people who want to continue and support the continuation of the programmes we introduced,” a member who attended the meeting said.
Those attended the meeting were Yaswanth Muttetuwegama, Amal Edirisooriya and Rohan Fernando while Maj. Gen. Rajitha Ampemohotti, Ruwan Keragala and Rowena Samarasinghe joined via Zoom. Among the other notable absentees were former national swimmer Julian Bolling and Dilantha Malagamuwa.