Friday, May 04, 2012

Sri Lanka Athletic Association - changes at the top


Major General Daya Ratnayake was elected uncontested as the new President of the Sri Lanka Athletic Association for the year 2012-2013 yesterday.
Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando was elected as the Secretary of the Association while the election of Olympic Silver Medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe as a Vice President was the highlight of the day’s proceedings.

The elections to select office bearers to the Sri Lanka Athletic Association was held at the National Institute of Sports Science in Colombo yesterday.
Ond hundred and thirteen (113) representatives from thirty eight (38) sports bodies were invited to cast their votes in an open ballot to elect members to seven positions in the Sri Lanka Athletic Association.

Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando contested for the position of secretary alongside Prema Pinnawala who is a senior athletic administrator.

Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando was elected as Secretary after garnering fifty votes while Pinnawala secured thirty five  votes.

The election of the six vice presidents of the Association was a keenly fought one which saw Sunil Jayaweera, Ajith Naragala, Susanthika Jayasinghe, H.W. Nimalsiri, Ajith Abeysekara and T.M. Devendra being elected to the posts.

Commonwealth Games medalist Sugath Thilakaratne who also contested for the post of vice president was not elected.

The application of Kiran Atapattu for the post of Treasurer was rejected while Chandana Ekanayake was elected to the post for the fourth time after defeating former athlete T.F. Alaileema.

Bernard Thilakasiri Perera and Oliver Fernando were elected as the Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer respectively while Saman Kumara Gunawardene was elected as the Recorder of the association.

Following the election, some of the new office bearers shared their views with Sports First. 

"I am happy to have received the position of Vice President. There are six vice presidents. Since this is the first time I was appointed, I have no experience. But I am person who understands the environment an athlete needs and the shortcomings and difficulties that an athlete faces since I experienced that
too.’’

’’I still do not know the responsibilities that are vested in a vice president. The sport is my life and if I have the power to work for it I will not think twice before dedicating myself to it irrespective of the positions I receive," said Susanthika Jayasinghe Vice President of Sri Lanka Athletic Association 

"I am very happy as I received the complete support from the districts and the sports bodies. I was to stay away from today’s election since it was to be an open ballot. But all the district bodies and sports
bodies told me to abstain from voting and that they will vote for me. I did not exercise a single vote because 95 percent here are those I guided and are my friends. Therefore I did not exercise my vote. But everyone voted for me," said Vice President of Sri Lanka Athletic Association Sunil Jayaweera 

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