Lamine Diack, President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) pledged his full support for the development of athletics in the island addressing the media commencing his historic visit to Sri Lanka at the Athletic Association headquarters yesterday.

"I will be beside you to help you. Let me be informed what kind of help you need whether it is financial or technical," said the 75-year-old president who began his two day visit with a visit to the new sports complex which is under construction at Diagama.

"I am really impressed with the development work carried out by the authorities and will support in every way they want my assistance" said Diack who has been holding the prestigious position of the IAAF since 1999.

Asked what kind of assistance the IAAF has so far extended to poorer nations to close the gap between them and the developed world, Diack said that the IAAF is providing technical assistance and help develop infrastructure.

Among the development programs of the IAAF is to provide synthetic tracks to their affiliates who do not have them. He added that the country doesn’t seem to need any assistance on this regard as a modern complex is being built with own funds.

However, the powerful president of 213 affiliated associations, lamented that the current annual expenditure of $ 25,000 by the local authorities is hardly enough to develop the talent in the country. He pledged his support to the Association if they forward a viable project.

Meanwhile, Diack highlighted the need of identifying talents at a very young age and stressed the importance of bringing in foreign expertise to fine tune local talents without sending athletes to foreign lands.

Incidentally, Diack is the first IAAF president to visit Sri Lanka, a member of the IAAF since 1922. Diack also met President Mahinda Rajapakse, a former president of the Athletic Association at Temple Trees and spoke to athletes and coaches at the auditorium of the newly built National Olympic Committee headquarters yesterday.