by Reemus Fernando The 400 metres hurdles, a discipline in which the country won its first Olympic medal has lost its popularity from being probably the most popular track discipline in 1948 to be the least-interested athletics event among school children today. The lack of facilities and neglect by officials at Divisional and Zonal level is contributing to making the event less attractive and killing the interest of potential athletes who could one day win medals at the international level. From lack of knowledge of coaches to train the technical event to lack of proper facilities (grounds), there could have been many other factors that had contributed to making the track discipline less appealing but there had been a number of athletes who have beaten the odds to win medals at the junior international level, proving that it is not a case of the dearth of talent.