President of the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation (SLHF) P Visvanathan has refuted claims made by Murad Amirdeen, a former regional hockey administrator that the sport in the country is in the doldrums and is destined for disaster in a report published in the Sunday Observer last week.
“I wish to state I was elected to the post of president of SLHF due to my contribution, suitability and cordial relationship with all affiliated associations.
“With regard to the existing Astro Turf Pitch in Colombo it is more than 23 years old and it’s an open secret the pitch is in a depilated condition, not suitable to conduct tournaments.
“During my period as president SLHF from April 2019 to December 2020 on request of the SLHF, the Asian Hockey Federation offered to grant free a full hockey pitch only as a grant and the Ministry of Sports to bear only the Astro Turf Pitch expenses involved in laying of the New Astro Turf for which on several occasion we approached the Minister of Sports during the period 2019-2020 to fulfill this requirement.
Due to the COVID 19 and the financial crisis the request was differed.
“The Asian Hockey Federation Congress was held in March 2023 in Seoul, South Korea. We were able to convince the Congress of the urgent need to replace the Turf as the present Turf is unusable and unplayable! The Congress members after giving us a patient hearing reminded us of the earlier opportunity where a new Turf was offered but was not utilized due to reasons better known to the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation.
“We are much pleased to note the Minister of Sports has consented to provide funds considering the importance of an Astro Turf in Colombo. We are also pleased to inform that at the Asian Hockey Federation Congress the Sri Lanka women’s team was honored and appreciated by their participation at the Asian Games Qualifier held in Indonesia in 2022 and was earmarked for a Special Award of USD 10,000.00 by the Asian Hockey Federation which will be sent to SLHF.
“On the claim that hockey materials donated by the AHF were allegedly sold by the officials and the money shared among the officials Visvanathan says: The AHF provided development hockey sticks, training balls, development pad pairs to be distributed for development purposes. As there was a lack of funds in the SLHF, the materials were cleared from the Customs with personnel funds not refunded and were stored safely in the SLHF headquarters stores.
“Unfortunately in early 2021 due the Sports Regulations the SLHF was vested under the DG Department of Sports Development. As such these materials could not be distributed. The SLHF elections due to be held in May 2021 was not held due to a Case filed at the District Court and Court of Appeal in June 2021. As per new Sports Regulations the 2021 Elections were held in November 2021 and again in August 2022. Due to these issues and obstacles the SLHF could not distribute the materials considering the violation of the Elections Rules and other barriers.
“These materials are safely kept at the SLHF store room. A Committee has been appointed to handle distribution of these materials.
“With regard to the Audited Statement of Accounts the SLHF Final Accounts have been handed over as per Sports Regulations. We assume that only a lunatic person will want to forward the annual accounts to the CID for Investigation?
With regard to sponsorship, due to the 2019 Easter Sunday incident, Covid 19 and the 2021 the unrest in the country we could not get any sponsors. Nevertheless in 2022 we wish to inform that the Asian Hockey Federation provided air tickets to participate at the AHF tournaments,” said Visvanathan.