- Sports Ministry set to expedite election
President of the Olcott Schools Collective, attached to Ananda College, Colombo Bimal Wijesinghe is set to submit his nomination for the post of President of Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) turning its yet to be decided election of office bearers for the 2025-27 term, into a four-cornered contest.
When contacted Wijesinghe, also a former chair of the Old Boys Association of Ananda College, stated that over 15 district associations had urged him to run for the top post of SLA, with his background of being a livewire in the local athletics sphere.
He vowed to revive the lot of local athletes, while elevating the standards of the sport to global level, if elected to head the sport’s domestic governing body at its long-delayed election.
Asked when the election could be due, Wijesinghe who had mostly competed at school and district level in the track and field arena besides excelling for his alma mater, expressed hope that by the second week of January, 2026 the election could go ahead.
He also sounded optimistic of winning over three other contestants namely SLA ex-head Sunil Gunawardena, Mercantile Athletics Federation President Prasanna Indika and Retired DIG Upali Kumarasiri, who had previously submitted their nominations to contest the election which was slated to be held on 18 August.
However, Sports Minister Sunil Kumara via an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, temporarily suspended the registration of Sri Lanka Athletics over its failure to amend its Constitution as per the regulations contained in the amended Sports Law.
Another reason for the postponement of the SLA election four months ago, were disputes that arose and objections raised over the eligibility of a few candidates vying for key posts as President, Secretary, etc.
The subject Minister thus handed over the governance aspect of the sport’s local controlling body to the Director General (DG) of his Ministry V. Premachandiran.
According to informed sources, the trio of Gunawardena, Indika and Kumarasiri, are also set to resubmit their nominations for the post of SLA President at its future election.
The Sports Ministry DG in an effort to revive the election process for SLA and resume its activities, convened a Special General Meeting (SGM) last week (23) at the Sports Ministry premises, where a fresh Election Committee had been formed.
The new five-member Election Committee is to be chaired by ex-Court of Appeal Judge Lalith U. Jayasuriya, with its other members being retired Colombo High Court Judge D.A. Ruwan Pathirana, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Sports Sumith Shantha, retired Additional Secretary Buddhika Weragoda and the Ministry of Sports retired Deputy Director (Planning) Deepal Liyanarachchi.
The Sports Ministry Department of Sports Development DG Premachandiran, when contacted, maintained that the Election Committee would shortly announce the new date for the SLA election next year along with the dates for the acceptance and closing of nominations and the filing of objections, etc.
He added that representatives from some 38 SLA-affiliated district associations had attended the SGM, and noted that during the meeting, objections had been raised linked to the legal status of 10 of the district associations.
The Director General observed that following a review of the objections, the Election Committee will announce its final decision along with the official list of eligible voting associations in due course.