Dollar crisis hits Commonwealth Games team

 National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka President Suresh Subramaniam

• Ray of hope of entire contingent going following Asian Games postponement

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The dollar crisis in the country has hit the Sri Lankan contingent scheduled to take part in the Commonwealth Games starting in Birmingham in July hard with the possibility of several athletes being left behind due to the lack of funds to fly them from Colombo to the UK.

With airline ticket costs increasing more than twofold due to the exchange rate of the dollar growing by the day, the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) under whose purview comes the responsibility of sending the team to the Commonwealth Games are in a quandary which disciplines they may have to keep out in order to send the team across.

“We were almost getting ready when this situation arose and the Government sent a circular to the Ministries to curtail spending. The Sports Ministry said that their payments have been completely curtailed, so there is a problem because they were to pay for the passage of the athletes and officials,” NOCSL President Suresh Subramaniam told Daily FT.

“In the last couple of days or so we have sat down and discussed ways of looking at the options of the very essential sports. Whether that is the right thing we don’t know. We are a little concerned and worried it’s not the right thing because the athletes and most of them are participating in a Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games only once in four years. 

“If we try to drop them because we have a problem, it is not right. They may not win a medal but they may be the best in the event in Sri Lanka, so they have a choice of representing. We are still looking at various options of how to accommodate them wherever possible,” he said.

There are four sports Subramaniam said that has qualified on merit that must go to the Commonwealth Games – Basketball 3x3, Beach Volleyball men and women, Women’s T20 cricket and the Rugby sevens, others are generally wild cards who have been given a slot.

“Now that they have qualified we cannot drop them. Rugby has no chance of winning a medal which we know of, but they have qualified. The draw for rugby is out and if we don’t send them and there is a walkover, there is a huge penalty on Sri Lanka.”

Subramaniam said that the Sports Ministry was originally giving Rs. 50 million for the air tickets which was one year ago and that money was still there, “but that money is worth nothing today because the ticket that was Rs. 150,000 is now offered at Rs. 550,000. That is the problem we are confronted with”.

“At the moment we have a total allocation including officials of 150 (114 athletes and about 30-40 coaches and officials). This is after we have pruned the figure down from the original figure of almost 200. Even this figure can go down further,” said Subramaniam. 

“We have 15 sports (men and women) and we may maintain the same number of sports but reduce the number of athletes. It is very difficult. Wherever is possible we will cut down on other sports which have come just as a choice.”

The deadline to submit the final entries was yesterday but Subramaniam said they had asked the organisers for an extension of the deadline date till Wednesday.

However, there is a silver lining to Sri Lanka’s problems with the postponement of the Asian Games in China by a year to 2023 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“The Sports Ministry had allocated Rs. 100 million – Rs. 50 million for the Commonwealth Games and Rs. 50 million for the Asian Games in September. A few hours ago, we heard that the Asian Games has been postponed for next year so we can ask the Sports Ministry for the money they have allocated for the Asian Games. Then we can fund the entire lot to the Commonwealth Games. By Monday or Tuesday we will know,” said Subramaniam.