Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 4, 2022: The 111th edition of GoodSport, the news bulletin of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, has welcomed the Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Mr. Husain Al Musallam, on its front cover.
Mr. Al Musallam visited Sri Lanka in his capacity as President of FINA late last month and paid a visit to the Sri Lanka NOC headquarters in Colombo where he was greeted by the President of Sri Lanka NOC, Suresh Subramaniam, and Secretary General Maxwell de Silva.
GoodSport splashed its headlines: “Dr. Husain here with a bag full of goodies” referring to the chief of the International Swimming Federation offering a number of incentives to the local swimming federation.
These included: sending three FINA coaches for diving, swimming and water polo; to help with the construction of a swimming pool for the national swimming squad of Sri Lanka; build a facility for dry land diving; and giving two scholarships, one male and one female, for talented swimmers to study and train in Hungary for four years.
During the meeting with the Sri Lanka NOC officials, GoodSport quoted Mr. Husain as saying: “I believe that we can move forward in sports with just one thing: not with money, not with facilities, but with teamwork. If the government, national federations and National Olympic Committee work together, everything will be easier. Our job as the OCA or the IOC will become much easier if this whole family in sports are together because then the goal is to make a better environment and a future in sports for the Sri Lankan youth.”
Secretary General De Silva called Mr Al Musallam “a friend of Sri Lanka, a friend of sports, and a friend of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka”.
Commenting on the helping hand, De Silva added: “We appreciate what you have done for sports in general and for conveying the message to the leadership of the country how sports should be developed.”
