It seems that badminton in Sri Lanka has taken a plunge downwards judging by the standards set by the Asian Badminton Organisation.
Sri Lanka were a notable absentee at the Asian Championship held a month ago as they were not good enough and were not in the list for participation.
The Sri Lanka badminton team participated in the first Asian Championship held in 1965 in Laknow, India and took part thereafter. But now they are not even listed as good enough to be included.
Sri Lanka’s badminton players have never risen to even Asian standards at any time before this and the world’s best shuttlers are all from Asian countries like China, Indonesia and Malaysia and Sri Lankan players cannot even beat any player from India.
“This is a bad sign for badminton in Sri Lanka. Most of the players participate in lowly ranked tournaments in Asia that cannot give them high ranking points. This is the main reason why Sri Lanka is considered not good enough and not included in the list for participation,” said a veteran past official.
Moreover, many top ranked players have left the country in search of higher income with Sri Lanka’s economy crashing to unbearable levels. Many more are in line to leave the country.
The AGM of Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) is over and many of the old faces have been re-elected. Some of them are alleged to have indulged in corrupt practices particularly with finances and not presenting their audited accounts.
The chairman of the technical committee and coaching has also been left out of office due to reasons only known to them. It was due to this official that most of the senior and good players kept away from training.
There was also a rule laid down by the Sports Minister that those over 70 years cannot hold office in sports governing bodies. Has this been implemented to SLB and many of the officials elected are well over 70 years.
The latest talk is about forming junior pools and grooming them with intense training to reach the top level some day.
Outsiders say this type of talk is a way to boost the image of the officials to show that they are doing something for the sport. But what has happened to those players who had reached the top level in the recent past?
Most of the time these players who participate in foreign tournaments have lost in the first round itself. This has been the absolute truth and the only enjoyable thing for the players is that they have gone on a trip to a foreign country.