The Sri Lankan government is yet to be informed about the cancellation of the Asian Athletic Games to be held at Chennai in July, an official of the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.
Asked to comment on TN Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s bid to cancel the games on account of the participation of Sri Lanka, the Director General of Public Communications, Rodney Perera, told Express News Service that he could not comment because the Lankan government had not been informed about any move to change the venue.
Earlier, cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle had said that despite the anti-Sri Lankan happenings in Tamil Nadu, the Lankan government would not interact with the TN government, but only with the Central government in New Delhi, because the latter was in-charge of foreign relations.
Opinion divided
Meanwhile reports state that the Tamil nadu government’s decision not to host the Asian Athletics Championships in Chennai has brought into focus the state’s standing as an international sporting destination.
Chief minister J Jayalalithaa announced on Thursday that the city would not host the meet, saying the Asian Athletics Association (AAA), Singapore, had failed to reply to her request to exclude the Sri Lankan contingent from the event.
The announcement met with widely mixed reactions, ranging from disappointment to outright support.
Former Indian hockey captain V Baskaran, who led the Indian team to a gold-medal finish at the Moscow Games in 1980, feels the decision is a step backward. “This is an example of sacrificing sport at the altar of cheap populism,” he said. “It is certainly not going to help TN’s case as host for any future international meets.”
Former bureaucrat M G Devasahayam backed the chief minister’s decision, saying sporting isolation is the best way to force Sri Lanka to try those responsible for human rights crimes and genocide. “Once a country is made to feel like a pariah in the sporting domain, it sends out a very loud and clear signal,” he said.
Ashok R Thakkar, commodore of Tamil Nadu Sailing Association (TNSA) concurred, saying the move was “prudent and in keeping with demands of the current scenario”. “The political situation is very delicate right now. There could be an untoward incident if the event is held in the city and Lankan athletes take part,” he said. “The chief minister’s decision was probably taken with the security situation in mind. If something happened during the meet, it would have shown us in even poorer light and done more damage to our reputation than refusing to host the event.”
Around 10 countries will compete for top honours in the India International Regatta in the city in October. The organisers will not invite Sri Lankan sailors. The Lankans were left out of the meet after the CM sent back students from Sri Lanka who had arrived in the city to play a friendly football match and suspended an official at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for organising the game.
With the next edition of the IPL around the corner, a shadow looms over the participation of Sri Lankan players in matches in Chennai. “There is still some time before the IPL gets underway, so there’s no point speculating,” said former Tamil Nadu cricketer and India opener W V Raman. “We’ll have to wait and watch.”
- With excerpts from Express News Service/ToI
