Six Sri Lankan athletes receive IOC Scholarships

By Dhammika Ratnaweera

International Olympic Committee (IOC) has increased the budget of Olympic Solidarity (OS) by 16 per cent for the 2021 to 2024 period (total $590 million) during an Executive Board meeting. IOC (through National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka(NOCSL))  has come forward to sponsor six athletes targeting the 2021 Olympic Games.

Nilani Ratnayake 3000m steeplechase run top performer of Sri Lanka at the moment and only one within Olympic qualification range is the latest addition to the IOC Solidarity Scholarship through NOC.  According to the senior official of the Sri Lanka Athletics, NOCSL promised that they will arrange another scholarship opportunity for Sumedha Ranasinghe, which we are now waiting for,. Javelin Thrower Sumedha Ranasinghe who represented Sri Lanka at the 2016 Rio Olympic and next closest to Olympic qualification this time.

ùMeanwhile, 30-year-old wrestler Chamara Perera who impressed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but didn’t make the team in 2018, and could only manage Silver in the most recent South Asian Games also select to get scholarship opportunity this time. Matthew Abeysinghe the champion swimmer, Chamara Dharmawardena(Judo) , Weight lifter Thilanka Palagasinghe and Artistic Gymnastic player Milka Gehani are the other IOC Solidarity recipients based on their performances. Wrestler Chamara Perera is on top of his game. He has performed well and NOC expects to send him for training to Mongolia before the Olympics, confirmed by the Secretary of the NOC Maxwell de Silva.

However  Two track and field athletes, Vidusha Lakshani and Gayanthika Abeyrathne have been removed from Sri Lanka’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Solidarity Scholarship recipients list targeting the 2021 Olympic Games, after a progress review.

Both athletes received USD 670 per month from 2016 post-Rio Olympic era till 2020, but lately, both Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) and  NOCSL had agreed that their lack of progress does not entitle them to further continuance of the scholarship.

The Olympic Solidarity budget allocated to athlete support programmes has also been increased by 25 per cent for the next quadrennial. In addition, the budget allocated for national activities has been increased to the equivalent of $500,000 per National Olympic Committee (NOC), and continent-specific programme budgets have been increased by 24 per cent.

Olympic Solidarity had already increased funding to NOCs following the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games, with the budget for the IOC subsidies programme increased by $10.3 million.

Sri Lanka IOC Solidarity scholarship recipients

1. Thilanka Palagasinghe (Weightlifting) –( USD 670 per month)
2. Chamara Dharmawardhana (Judo) – (USD 1000 per month)
3. Matthew Abeysinghe (Swimming) –( USD 1000 per month)
4. Chamara Perera(Wrestling) –( USD 670 per month)
5. Nilani Rathnayaka (Athletics) – (USD 670 per month)
6. Milka Gehani (Artistic Gymnastic) –(In Japan training under IOC –OS Fund)