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By Champika Fernando

South Asia’s fastest man Shehan Ambepitiya suggests that only a rewarding system could bring back the golden era of athletics which helped Sri Lanka reach new heights in the late 90’s as most of the young athletes are a demoralized lot at present.
While attending a pre-season training session along with some 20 athletes, Ambepitiya said that if Sri Lanka is to be the driving force in track in field in the region, the country should reintroduce the rewarding system that was there in the 90’s, where the athletes are rewarded based on their performances.
“Everyone is just aimless. So it has certainly affected dropping of athletics standard during the last decade and it will be continued until a performance based rewarding system is introduced,” said Shehan, who won a hat-trick of gold medals at the Youth Commonwealth Games two years back.
Former Sports Minister SB Dissanayake introduced a performance based rewarding system for the athletes where the athletes were rewarded based on their performances but his exit brought about a complete standstill to the program where the consequences are evident today.
The system that existed during the late 90’s directly helped Sri Lanka’s course in becoming the hub of Asian sprinters as a number of athletes made their way to the top ensuring that the program has paid off the country well.
For an instance if an athlete came to the Olympics Games ‘B’ grade qualifying standard, he was rewarded with a house and those who managed to rise a step further and reach the ‘A’ grade standard were given a car in addition to a house.
“These really motivated athletes in that era where they not only met those qualifying standard but also went on to win medals at major internationals, including Olympics. I am not asking for money but we need a system where the athletes are motivated,” Ambepitiya said.
Since of late Sri Lanka has adhered to competition targeted training, mostly just a month prior to the scheduled date of the event, which many find as a stumbling block that has curtailed the performance levels.
“This isn’t going to help us maintain a higher standard. You need at least three months of targeted training ahead of an international event. What we really need is a long-term target oriented program and if we can do that we can bring back the golden era which has drifted away from us.”
Shehan though yet to match his personal performances of 10.43 secs clocked at the Commonwealth Youth Games, improved his personal best in the 200m dash clocking 21.18 secs at the recent South Asian Games.
While studying for a degree in management at Gateway, Shehan said despite all the hiccups in the local athletics scene, he will continue to train as he is hungry for medals.
“We have a few meets prior to the Asian Games, like the Grand Prix and I am hoping to run below the 10.3 mark before the Asian Games which will put me in a good position at the Asian Games,” Shehan asserted.