It has been reported that the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) secretary Maurice Nicolas told Sri Lanka, that their elections for the Sri Lanka Athletics Association (SLAA) were not held fairly and were not recognised by the association, resulting in postponement of the games.
However, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports has said the event would go ahead as scheduled, despite Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage statement on Monday, which confirmed the postponement.
According to the Colombo Page, state-owned Dinamina newspaper stated that a former athlete supplied the AAA with “false information”, after candidates for the elections attempted to buy votes.
The elections, and subsequent change in administration, along with the incompletion of the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo have been cited as reasons as to why the games had been postponed.
See our earlier posts:
The link between Sports and Politics (20 June 2011)
Impossible to ignore (21 June 2011)