- Rugby on the back foot
Sri Lanka sent its largest-ever contingent to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games this year: 156 athletes, comprising 100 men and 56 women, competing across 25 sports. The squad returned with just three medals: one Gold, one Silver, and one Bronze.
Audio clips of the Sports Minister circulated on social media, featuring a blunt Sinhala remark translated literally as, “It’s not a sport anymore, now it’s just a joke.”
While harsh, the underlying question is fair: what did the country get for its substantial investment? This debacle is hardly new. In 2018, 173 athletes travelled to Jakarta and returned empty-handed.
Although the National Sports Council promised in 2023 to sponsor only genuine medal prospects, this year’s record squad proved that commitment hollow.
Furthermore, the President of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) noted in the media that the Minister’s late intervention had added 34 athletes at the 11th hour – a move that resembles panicked improvisation rather than a strategic pathway.
Meanwhile, sprinter Fathima Shafiya Yamick, a triple Gold medallist at the 2025 South Asian Athletics Championships, was inexplicably left out of the contingent.
Officials owe the public a clear account of these selection decisions, which were mired in administrative hurdles, poorly communicated performance criteria, and broken assurances from athletics officials.
The medals that did materialise came mostly in team sports, with the men’s cricket team winning Bronze and the women’s team taking Silver.
These successes highlight what sustained structure can achieve – and underscore how much of the broader contingent produced nothing.
Rugby under the microscope
Rugby demands particular scrutiny. The rugby sevens team finished a disappointing seventh, despite robust preparation that included training stints in France and the UK, as well as participation in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series Division 2.
Even as Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) issued confident statements predicting progress, opposing Asian teams visibly advanced, while Sri Lanka remained stagnant.
Breakdown play was weak and the team conceded too many penalties due to a fundamental unfamiliarity with the laws of the game. On top of that, the defence was weak and the tackling appalling.
Defeat is an inherent part of sport, and the response should be analytical rather than defensive.
Some within SLR suggested that a Kandy-based figure orchestrated a subpar performance from Kandy players. However, this narrative collapses under a match-record review, as most tries were scored by Kandy players. The genuine culprits were poor planning, inadequate training, and a lack of rule compliance.
Discipline and trust
Player indiscipline remains an alarming constant. The disciplinary process in the national XVs circuit appears just as fragile as it was during the school season.
A lifting-and-dumping offence drew a meagre one-week ban, and a serious biting incident warranted a much closer look – yet the judicial outcomes remain entirely unpublished.
The public cannot evaluate whether these decisions were sound; this wall of silence is the real problem.
SLR has failed to explain the modus operandi behind appointing judicial officers. It remains unclear whether an open process exists or whether positions go to whoever volunteers.
Run by a familiar former referee well known to fans, an opaque process inevitably breeds speculation of bias.
Justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done; the governing body has invited avoidable doubt through its lack of transparency.
While the biting incident allegedly carried a severe suspension, a rookie raising his hands to conduct the judicial process will inevitably face biased assumptions given his roots in the hill capital.
Compounding these governance issues, the governing body is keen to seize control of referee appointments.
This power grab raises urgent questions about motives, especially as the former figures attempting to steer the process have failed to secure adequate participation for a Level 2 World Rugby match-officiating programme. Eight in the elite panel, as claimed, is wishy-washy, as most are members of the referees’ society.
The way forward
With the second leg of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series looming and the Asian Games concluded, enacting meaningful reforms would demonstrate a genuine learning curve.
- Publish the money trail: The ministry, the NOCSL, and each federation should transparently disclose the total costs of the Asian Games campaign – covering camps, travel, and officials – alongside the final results
- Set upfront targets: Establish and publish medal expectations and selection criteria ahead of the next cycle, and fully document trials
- Make rugby’s justice visible: SLR must publish clear criteria for appointing judicial officers and provide summaries of every disciplinary decision, detailing the charge, findings, and sanction
- Open up referee appointments: Publicly explain and justify any changes regarding how referees are appointed
Sri Lankan sport suffers from no shortage of talent or enthusiasm; it lacks accountability. Public money is spent and the public is fully entitled to see what it actually buys.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)