Chef de Mission Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dampath Fernando (centre) with the Sri Lankan contingent at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening ceremony

• ‘It was quite demoralising and unexpected. It was a kind of a black mark’

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Chef de Mission Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dampath Fernando said that the decamping by 12 athletes and officials during the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham had marred the admirable performances of Sri Lanka winning four medals in the 12-day global event.

Fernando said that 10 athletes and two officials (10 men and 2 girls) from four sports judo, wrestling, boxing and beach volleyball had left the team during the Games and had not returned to Sri Lanka with the rest of the contingent.    

“Since I came back to Sri Lanka I haven’t heard anything about it. But when I was there the police said they had located four people apparently. All what they said was that they had located them and they are well and fine. 

“They were reluctant to give any other details pertaining to those people. They are not supposed to divulge any information even about the places where they are staying because they have six months multiple visas. Therefore, they can stay in the UK until the visa expires. After that the British authorities will look at them in a different way,” said Fernando.

“We won four medals (one silver and four bronze) and compared to the previous Games, it’s an achievement. I am quite disappointed because we would have won two more medals if not for this unfortunate episode that we had to face. It was quite demoralising and unexpected. It was a kind of a black mark. This has happened in the past but not to the extent of what we have experienced on this occasion.”

The two medals Sri Lanka missed out were in the men’s beach volleyball and in the men’s boxing. 

“I was witnessing the beach volleyball match against Australia (quarter-finals) and we won the first set easily. Our guys were playing well, but in the second and third sets I felt that there was a match-fixing kind of a situation because that young player Ashen (Rashmika) missed so many services. 

“You can’t expect a professional player to miss services like that at a stretch. On the same day after a couple of hours I got to know that he had decamped,” stated Fernando. Sri Lanka lost the match to Australia by 2-1.

“If they had won the match we would have gone to the semi-finals and played against Ghana, a game we would have easily won and gone to the final. They had their plans in mind. When an athlete comes with that intention, he is not focussed. His only intention is to run away. It’s an utter waste of money and everything. It’s a shame.”

The second instance involved a boxer from Kilinochchi, Niklas Vittalis. “He had a lot of support from the Tamil diaspora who collected money and gave him including a branded T-shirt. He said that he was never going to leave and that he had to get back to his hometown and all that. 

“His girlfriend is also a student at Jaffna University. But with all that he scooted off. After he left, the other two boxers also decamped. The Sri Lankans living in the UK are a bad influence.” Fernando expressed disappointment that an official such as the manager of the judo team who is a President of the Sri Lanka Judo Association and a former Navy officer, Lt. Cdr. Asela de Silva had decamped. “Asela was the first person to decamp. He has been aiding and abetting other members in the contingent. After him, the judoka girl Chamila (Marappulige) also vanished the next day.” 

“Definitely it’s a serious matter. This has become a bad practice. Sri Lanka has to take some very serious steps to stamp out this menace of decamping collectively. We need to take a lot of preventive measures, be very choosy and selective when you are sending people abroad. Not only the athletes but we have to check the managers’ background as well. 

“We should decide what potential sports we should consider representing in future Games like the Commonwealth, Asian and Olympics. It’s left to the Sports Ministry and the respective national sports bodies to draw a line. They have to be very strict on that definitely, it’s their responsibility,” said Fernando.

Nethmi is an Olympic medallist, says CdM Dampath Fernando