Certain prominent politicians of the Kandy area have started to conspire against local swimming sensation Mayumi Raheem from representing the country in the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Raheem became a household name in Sri Lanka after she collected 11 medals in the recent South Asian Games in Colombo including three gold medals, but attempts are underway to leave the local star from the global games.
‘Sunday Island’ learns that two prominent government politicians in the Kandy area have campaigned for a female swimmer from their electorate to represent the country at the Olympics and the Sports Ministry out of the blues has introduced a new regulation that will prevent Raheem from competing at the games.
No Sri Lankan swimmer has reached the required time to participate in the Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee provides opportunities for athletes, who don’t meet this requirment, by presenting the participating countries wildcards. Sri Lanka has two wildcards and Heshan Unamboowe of Trinity College, Kandy, and Mayumi Raheem were the contenders to represent Sri Lanka at the Olympic Games. But the Ministry is to introduce a new regulation that will prevent any athlete who is not residing in Sri Lanka from taking part in the event.
The 16-year-old Raheem lives with her parents in Singapore as her father is employed in that country but she still uses the Sri Lankan passport and comes to Colombo frequently to participate in swimming events to maintain her eligibility to represent her country.
A specialist of the breaststroke event, Raheem won three gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals at the South Asian Games in Colombo and went onto win a bronze medal in the 200 meter breast stroke event at the FINA Short Course World Cup in Singapore last year.
She also declined Singaporean citizenship that was offered to her two years back after she beat the Singaporean number one at that time and if the Sports Ministry implements the new regulation, her Sri Lankan career could come to an abrupt end.
Swimming analysts predict that Raheem could win Sri Lanka a medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London in one of the breast stroke events. She has targeted reaching the semi-finals at this year’s Olympics and has started training under Australian Olympic coach Frank Hohman, who coached Australian World Record holder Leisel Jones.
Raheem is quite a distance away when compared to other Sri Lankan female swimmers and is the deserving candidate for the Olympics if performances are to be taken into consideration. But the Sports Ministry is attempting to knock her off through a technical point.
Apart from Raheem, some top Sri Lankan sportsmen and women, including Susanthika Jayasinghe, train overseas and it’ll be a drawback if the Sports Ministry doesn’t support this future medal prospect, at international stage, who will bring glory for Sri Lanka.
