- Ex-NOC Chief says Minister must intervene
Former National Olympic Committee (NOC) President Hemasiri Fernando, in an interview with The Daily Morning Sports, asserted that the Sports Minister has the authority to remove any head of a sports body and clear the decks for elections.
“The current Minister of Sports, if he wants to, must act now,” he said in reference to the long overdue annual election to the NOC for the 2025-29 term.
“He (Minister) removed former NOC General Secretary Maxwell de Silva, citing gross misconduct charges during his term, in January this year. And similarly he can oust the current head of the NOC. Why he is not doing that is a mystery.”
Fernando made this comment when asked for his take on whether the Sports Minister has powers vested in his post to remove officials if they were to be an impediment for annual elections of any sports federation falling under the purview of the Sports Ministry.
The retired sports administrator, also an ex-Defence Secretary, dismissed claims by the incumbent NOC President Suresh Subramaniam, that the ongoing forensic audit must conclude before the next election could take place.
He said such “loose-end theories” were all concocted by the officials of the NOC Executive Committee (Ex Co) to delay the election process in their bid to remain in office, and insisted that the audit is no barrier to set the ball rolling for the election of office bearers.
“This is all nonsense in my book,” Fernando argued.
“As per the NOC Constitution which has been formulated under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Charter, any forensic audit should not be a hindrance to delay the election. This is utter nonsense and it is clear the NOC Ex-Co is using the audit as a shield to delay the election as much as possible.”
Fernando said as per the IOC Charter within a 12-month period of the completion of the Summer Olympics, all international Olympic Federations affiliated to the global body have to hold annual elections to their respective domestic bodies.
Therefore, he maintained that currently Sri Lanka stands in violation of the IOC Charter and said the onus was on the incumbent Minister Sunil Kumara to act promptly before the country could get blacklisted by the Switzerland-based institution.
“There is no need to wait for clearance from the IOC. This is hokum. The Minister has to move in and clear the path for elections by installing an Interim Committee. The audit even after the election can proceed under the supervision of the new NOC Ex-Co.”
Hemasiri Fernando cited the long-drawn out power struggle between the NOC President and its former General Secretary as being the bane of the Olympic House, and was in no doubt as to what action should follow from the Minister concerned.
“Already, the Minister has got rid of one of the guys. But, then he must show the door to the other guy as well. These two have to make way, if Sri Lanka’s is to envision a bright future in Olympic sports. This has to happen urgently and the ball is in the court of the Minister and let’s see how he handles this situation,” Fernando added.
The four-year term of the current Ex-Co of the NOC is scheduled to expire on 27 December, 2025 while to date no official statement has been made by the Olympic House concerning its next election.
Meanwhile, Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President Jaswer Umar, holding a special media briefing early this week, warned that failure to hold annual elections to the NOC will result in the country facing a potential risk of being blacklisted within the global Olympic movement.
Sri Lanka is set to face a hectic international sports calendar in 2026 with the 23rd Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July-August, 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan in September, and Olympic Youth Games in Senegal in October-November being a few of the high profile events.