Economic crisis forces SLS to forget national coaches
Sri Lanka Squash (SLS) will have to forget and forgo reinstating its terminated Pakistani national coach due to lack of funds, mainly due to the economic crisis and until it’s resolved, stated Amal Edirisooriya, Director General of the Sports Ministry. Edirisooriya, also sitting in the National Sports Council, with whom a request has been filed to reinstate Rehman Gul, said if they badly want to bring him back, SLS will have to use their own means of funding.
“We don’t have the finance to fund foreign coaches. Hence, we don’t have a way of reinstating him,” Edirisooriya said.
In contrast, SLS’s Vice President, Commander Eranda Geeganage told the Sunday Times when Gul’s contract ended abruptly, he headed home with unpaid arrears, close to a million.
“We first have to clear out those, in order and if we’re to reinstate him. It’s not good for the country.
However, even for that, we’re going from pillar to post,” Geeganage said.
On clearing the arrears, SLS had decided in its ex-co meeting this week that they will be approaching for wellwishers and sponsors.
Edirisooriya, on the other hand, also said that, “They don’t need a foreign coach for them to function. There are local coaches.”
“Some national sports bodies bring down foreign coaches. So they should find the funds to take care of them. Even last year, we helped them to hire foreign coaches for the sake of high performance at the Commonwealth Games. However, we cannot continue that,” Edirisooriya explained, adding, “If they’re stubborn of a foreign coach, they should find their own funds to fetch one.”
Gul was hired exactly a year ago in February, for an estimated monthly salary of Rs.750,000. However, with the country bulldozed by the economic crisis, SLS was forced to terminate him after the Commonwealth Games, and within his year-long contract concluded. In their regular coaches’ absence, two locals were substituted. However, adding insult to injury, their services too had to be stopped, again due to severe restriction of funds.
“Naduni Gunawardena and Gihan Suwaris became the stand-in coaches for one-month period. However, we had to stop them since there were amounts due for them also,” Geeganage said.
“During that one month also, they did the coaching without any charges.”
He revealed that SLS has multiple overseas tournaments lined up until this September’s Asian Games.
“But if we need to focus on all the games, we need to have a national coach. But the main problem is we don’t have the money to spend on coaches.”
“For SLS’s opening overseas tournament for this year, in India, participants and SLS ex-co members had to bear the cost,” he revealed.