Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage said that he has temporarily suspended 10 sports federations as those helming those associations had been unable to govern their institutions, in keeping with the provisions of their respective constitutions.
In a brief interview with The Daily Morning Sports, done on the side lines of a recent event held at the Sports Ministry premises, the minister stated that there has been a welter of allegations levelled at 10 sports federations prompting his immediate intervention.
“There have been a litany of allegations against these sports institutions,” Gamage said. “Those allegations are linked to acts of fraud, corruption, misuse of federation funds, inability to adopt new constitutions in keeping with the provisions of the new Sports Law, etc.”
The 10 sports associations suspended by the minister are linked to games such as softball, karate, gymnastics, elle, netball, automobile sports, cycling, athletics, table tennis and kabaddi.
He said that due to the aforementioned reason, he had used his authority as the subject minister to temporarily suspend the registration of 10 sports associations, and transfer the governance aspect to his Ministry Secretary Aruna Bandara.
However, he categorically insisted that the suspension of the 10 sports federations will not be a long-drawn out process.
He observed that he has only resorted to his actions in order to amend the constitutions of the associations concerned and clear the decks for the holding of new ‘transparent elections’, as per the provisions of the newly formulated Sports Law.
“What has caused these federations to malfunction over time, is the inability of existing officials to sort out their internal differences with each other,” Gamage noted.
“In most of these sports bodies, there are internal squabbles and petty quarrels. That is the reality. Most of them are only interested in furthering their own agendas, but not those of the sportsmen and women. That mind set will have to change with the adoption of the new constitutions, based on the provisions of the new Sports Law.”
Asked how long it will take for the ministry to lift the suspensions imposed on the sports federations, the minister was of the view it was impossible to declare a set time frame, as constitutions of each sports body was different.
He added that it was also a headache for his officials to oversee 10 sports and mentioned that he personally was striving his best to revive the suspended sporting institutions sooner than later.
“It is tough to give a precise time frame,’’ he remarked. ‘’That is because it differs from sport to sport. For some it may take a wee while, while for some others, we might be able to pave the way for elections shortly.”
The minister blamed the officials in charge of the youth netball squad for failing to secure requisite visas on time via the British High Commission in Colombo which prevented them from flying out to Gibraltar to compete in the recently concluded Netball World Youth Cup 2025.
“What I perceive was a failure to coordinate these matters effectively and that has to be put down as a missed opportunity,” he pointed out.
“However, there were some issues on the part of the selection committee as well, which contributed to the unforeseen delay,” he said, dismissing suggestions that the fiasco had caused an injustice to the players.
He asserted that it was his ministry that had decided to send the team to Gibraltar in the first place, as it was only a championship which Sri Lanka was only going to gain experience, as they had no realistic chances for success.
Gamage also reiterated that his ministry will be instituting legal action against all officials of the Sri Lanka Karate-Do Federation (SLKF), who had allegedly deposited money obtained from athletes to their personal accounts, having failed to facilitate air passage for a recent event in China.