Five boxers representing defending champions Western Province (WP) fell by the wayside on the opening day of the 45th National Sports Festival in Badulla on Wednesday whereas North Western Province (NWP-Wayamba) pugilists stormed into championship contention producing five winners.

There were some explosive bouts in the card of 25 in the preliminary round, including a couple of knockouts, as the boxing competition got underway in the car park opposite the Uva Provincial Council Secretariat.

Slimline’s M.R. Sadaruwan representing WP scored on the quickest victories in the history of the championship when he knocked out Sabaragamuwa’s Pushpakumara with a sweetly timed right cross in just 47 seconds in a Fly weight (52kg) bout.

Wayamba’s A.P.J. Kumara also knocked out Northern fighter Sanisdes early in round one.

Air Force’s Jeewan Kumara representing North Central Province scored an impressive win over Wayamba’s Diwakara knocking down his rival with a superb left hook in the first round and flooring him again in the final round with a perfectly timed right hook to earn a unanimous decision.

Layton and Clifford Cup champion Ruwan Thilina Weerakkodi of Army representing WP was stretched by Wayamba’s Siriwardhana before winning by RSC in round 3.

Sri Lanka’s ‘Mary Kom’, the evergreen Army champion L.G. Chandrika fighting in the Light weight (60kg) outclassed North Central Province’s Sandupama forcing a stoppage early in the first round.

In a Army-Navy super heavyweight clash, Sabaragamuwa’s Buwaneka Eranda Thilakarathna repeated his Clifford Cup triumph over Southern Province’s A.W. Hettige after a thrilling encounter.

Results

PRELIMINARIES

Light Fly weight (49kg) – G.K.G.W. Udaya Kumara (Eastern) bt H.P.M. Handuwala (Western) on points 3:0;

Bantam weight (56kg) – D.D. Rangana (Southern) bt M.A.S. Dananjaya (SAB) Referee Stopped Contest R1, K.A.G.K.A. Kapukotuwa (Central) bt L.D.S.D. Liyanage (North Central) walkover, W.R.T. Weerakkodi (Western) bt H.M.I. Siriwardhana (North Western) RSC R3, W.H.M.D. Champika (North Western) bt E.G.M. Sugath Kumara (Uva) 4:1;

Light Welter weight (74kg) – I.P.D.C. Udaya Kumara (North Central) bt K.A.S.B. Jayampathi (Western) 5:0;

Middle weight (75kg) – G.G.D.S. Munasingha (North Central) bt D.M.G. Dilshan (Western) RSC R2, V. Niklas (Northern) bt S. Ramesrajah (Northern) Abandoned R1;

Light (women) weight (69kg) – L.G. Chandrika (Southern) bt W.P. Sandupama (North Central) RSC R1;

Fly weight (52kg) – J.M.N.J. Kumara (North Central) bt D.M.D. Diwakara (North Western) 5:0, M.R. Sadaruwan (Western) bt A.M.S. Pushpakumara (Sabaragamuwa) knock out R1, R.M.P. Dharmasena (Uva) bt A.M.C.R. Aththanayaka (Uva) walkover;

Light weight (60kg) – P.S. Kumara (Southern) bt P.H.C. Jayashanka (Southern) walkover, R.M.P.K.K. Rasnayaka (North Western) bt H.A.H.D. Hettiarachchi (Central) 5:0, D.B.A.D.D. Bandara (North Central) bt N. Sankeerthan (Northern) ABD R1, K.G.K.M. Karunasinghe (Central) bt H.A.D. Chathuranga (Sabaragumuwa) RSC R2, D.M.P.N. Dissanayaka (Uva) bt H.A.K.R. Dewappriya (Western) walkover, A.P.J. Kumara (North Western) bt V. Sanisdes (Northern) KO R1;

Welter weight (69kg) – T.P. Wellappili (Southern) bt M.Y.M. Dilshan (Uva) walkover, J. Vithurshan (Northern) bt S. Suyan (Eastern) 4:1;

Super Heavy weight (91+kg) – A.R.B.E. Thilakarathna (Sabaragamuwa) bt A.W. Hettige (Southern) 4:1, M.W.M.M. Meegasthanna (Eastern) bt M. Nixon Rubraj (Northern) walkover, A.G.S.P. Gunawardhana (Uva) bt W.K.D. Dhananjaya (North Central) RSC R1, K.M.C.K. Karunanayaka (North Western) bt A.L. Amarasingha (Western) 4:1

All rounder Rivith Jayasuriya of Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa scored his second consecutive century when he slammed a chancelles 112 runs against Formidable Zahira College Colombo in their inter school under 13 division one tournament cricket match played at Moratuwa. Rivith in four outings and in five innings has scored 386 runs with two centuries at an average of 96.5 and unbeaten once.

He had ten fours and seven sixes in his hurricane innings and faced 94 balls. Also he was associated in an opening stand of 130 runs with Pesitha Pemila who contributed an unbeaten 47 runs.

Batting first Zahira College collapsed for 77 runs with a good bowling spell of 5 for 23 by Shenal de Silva and in reply Cambrinas declared at 173 for 1 and in their second essay Zahirians were shot out for a paltry 45 runs with Cambrians Skipper Yenula Dewthusa doing the damage with 6 for 18 runs to give Cambrians an outright victory.

Prince of Wales 173 on Rivith Jayasuriya 112, Pesitha Memila 47 not out

Zahira College – 77 (Shenal de Silva 5/23, Prince Fernando 2/10, and 45 Syenula Dewthusha 6/18, Shenal de Silva 2/7 Prince Fernando 2/20).

Pavan Dananjaya of Sri Chandrasekera Maha Vidyalaya, Horethuduwa Panadura scored an unbeaten splendid 106 runs in their inter school under 13 division two tournament cricket match against S. de S Jayasinghe Vidyalaya played at Dehiwala.

Batting first Sri Chandrasekera Vidyalaya scored 151 and M. R. M. Hamood had a very good spell of 6 for 29 including a hatrick. In reply when rain stopped play homesters were 16 runs without loss.

Sri Chandrasekera MV – 151 – (Pavan Dananjaya 106 n/o, Nimesh Madushanka 17, M. R. M. Hamood 6/29, R. S. Kumara 3/30).

S. de S. Jayasinghe Vidyalaya - 16/0

Lyceum International School, Bogamuwa, Gampaha fared exceptionally well in the under 12, under 14 and Under 16 International Schools Boys Team Table Tennis Championships recently.

Under 12 boys and Under 14 boys tournament was held at Gateway College, Rajagiriya and Under 16 boys tournament was held at St. Thomas Sports Complex, Mt. Lavinia.

Under 12 best player Sanula Gamage, Under 14 Best Player Sanuth Jayasumana, Under 16 Best Player Mahith Jayasumana and up-and coming talented player Chiran Dharmaratne (under 16 team member) were players of Lyceum International School, Bogamuwa.

The Director of Lyceum International School, Gampaha Mrs. Dilmi Ratnayake standing (third from left) with all teams members in picture.

The teams were coached by formed National player Lalith Perera.

An Indoor Cricket Stadium and High Performance Centre of International Standard in Walgama North, Matara will be opened on Saturday 26th, October 2019 at 8.00 am.

This facility will provide a great opportunity to the public, especially to children in Matara and entire Southern Province. scholarships will be given to children who are having financial difficulties and provide them training to improve their skills and talents to become useful citizens.

Leadership Skills, teamwork, discipline and sportsmanship are some key areas to be focused on.

This facility will be of immense benefit to the general public.

TOKYO, Thursday - At the last Rugby World Cup in 2015, the southern hemisphere nations highlighted a gap with their northern counterparts after none of the Six Nations teams advanced to the semi-finals for the first time.

In England four years ago, the southern hemisphere sides simply played at a faster pace across the park and their skill execution under pressure was at a much higher level.

This weekend, however, the semi-finals will show how much the gap between the south and north has narrowed.

The All Blacks face England in the first semi-final clash between southern and northern-hemisphere sides since 1999, when New Zealand were upset by France.

Six Nations champions Wales face Rugby Championship winners South Africa at Yokohama Stadium on Sunday.

“I think that is what has made them go away and improve,” All Blacks coach Steve Hansen told reporters in Tokyo when asked about the north’s last World Cup performances.

“Not so much improve but think about how they play the game and how they get what they want from their rugby,” Hansen added.

“They have come back over the last four years and all those home nations have played really good rugby.

“Two of them (Wales and Ireland) have been number one in the world in the last month or so and two are now in the final four, so they have made some great improvements.”

Those advances have produced better results since the last World Cup, as Ireland, England and Wales have all gone on lengthy unbeaten streaks.

Ireland won their first two games against the All Blacks and their first match in South Africa. Wales ended a 10-year, 13-match losing streak at the hands of the Wallabies and beat them again in pool play in Japan.

England and Ireland also won test series in Australia.

In games between the Six Nations sides and those from the Rugby Championship from 2016, the European teams have won 42 of the 79 matches. More than half the 37 losses against southern hemisphere sides were suffered by France (12) and Italy (eight).

While Wales have won nine of their 15 games against the Rugby Championship sides, four of their six losses have come at the hands of the All Blacks and they have beaten the Springboks all four times they have played since 2016.

England have an even better record in the last four years.

They have lost just three times in 18 games against southern hemisphere nations since the last World Cup — two to South Africa and in their only game against the All Blacks last year, something coach Eddie Jones is eager to rectify in Yokohama. “We’re moving in the right direction,” Jones said. “Look at what we’ve done as a team over the last four years, we’ve had some great wins, we’ve had some significant losses. We have learnt from those.

“Progressively, we’ve built a game that we think we can take New Zealand. We’re just excited by the possibility.” – Agencies

Saracens Sports Club’s success in finishing runner-up in the Premier Tier ‘A’ league cricket tournament 2018/19 was due to the unity amongst the team members and the discipline instilled on them by the cricket management of the club, said Nuski Mohamed after being elected president of the club at their 80th AGM held at Hilton Residencies, Colombo 2 on Sunday.

Mohamed further emphasized that it was a proud achievement considering the fact that Saracens has been handicapped without a ground of their own, since the loss of Rifle Green almost 50 years ago.

He mentioned that the tournament next year onwards could be restructured by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the Tier ‘A’ teams could be brought down progressively to 10 according to a proposal currently under consideration.

Mohamed thanked Sri Lankan Cricket for the tremendous support they have given to the clubs during the past year and also thanked the media and the support staff of the club in particular inclusive of the coach Sajeewa Weerakoon and manager Chandra Rodrigo who have been of tremendous help.

Saracens SC have been training at the P. Sara Stadium, inclusive of their indoor net and gym facilities and Mohamed thanked the Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club profusely for the wonderful support extended to them during the past couple of seasons.

A reception was held in honour of the Saracens SC team for finishing as runner-up in Premier Tier ‘A’ league tournament 2018/19. The club gave special awards to the players who performed creditably during the season.

A two-minute silence was observed for the sad demise of former Saracens SC cricketer Aubrey Kuruppu who passed away early this month.

Thalath Ismail was re-elected as Patron of the club.

The Office Bearers elected at the AGM are:

Vice President: Zacky Macan Markar

Club Captain: Nasser Majeed

Secretary: Muiyad Cader

Treasurer: Shibly Vilcassim

Cricket Secretary: Chandra Rodrigo

Asst Secretary: SD Macan Markar

Asst Treasurer: Sabry Ibrahim

Social Secretary: Muyiad Idroos

Executive Committee: Dinesh Kumarasinghe, Bilal Mohamed, Shireen Hussain, Ramly Vilcassim, Edgar Thevarayan, Shiyam Mohamed, Thushan Amarasuriya.

Cricket Captain (Premier Division 1): Milinda Siriwardana

Cricket Vice-Captain (Premier Division 1): Ashen Bandara

Zahira Veterans will organize “Battle of the Masters 2019” Football Tournament on October 27 from 8.00 a.m. onwards at the College grounds.

With a rich history of over 127 Years Zahira College Colombo is one of the pioneers in school football and has been dominating the game ever since it’s inception and has produced several National players.

Zahira Veterans was incorporated in 2008 by founder Patron Naina Mohamed (Former National player) along with few other football Legends produced by Zahira. Since 2011 the team has made several annual trips to play with foreign Veterans teams. The team has travelled previously to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia on numerous occasions.

Football at Zahira is not just a sport, it is a passion ingrained deep within the culture for more than 100 years. Hence this tournament will be an initiative to recognize the Sri Lankan football back in the days, with the concept of bringing together the bond of former football players and promote the importance and value of their experience for the upcoming young football players. The Old Boys’ Association (Kingdon of Saudi Arabia Branch) is the main sponsor of the event and member of the Executive Committee Mohamed Jiffry and co sponsors Commercial Safety Pvt Ltd (VIro) Marketing Executive F.K.M. Zahran presented spoonship cheques to the Principal of the Zahira College Trizviiy Marikkar.

It is conducted under the core objective of “Add value to the past football talent in Sri Lanka”

The proceeds of this tournament will be utilized to uplift the sports facilities at Zahira College by providing 4 Dugout (substitute benches) for the college ground.

Participating teams in the tournament are Zahira College, Royal College, Ananda College, Hameed Al Husseinie College, St Benedict College, De Mazenod College, Zahira College Gampola and St Henry’s College Jaffna.

President of the Zahira Veterans T.J. Chuncheer and Principal Zahira College Trizviiy Marikkar addressed the press conference. Zahira College OBA President Naina Mohamed, Project Chairman Shaffie Namiz and Members were present.

Colombo Colts Cricket Club is the long standing Ceylonese Cricket Club started in 1873 held its 146th Annual General Meeting of on October 19 at the Club pavilion. Nishantha Ranatunga has been re- elected as President unanimously for the year 2019/20.

Other key officials elected were, Trevor Rajaratnam as the Patron, Jagath Savanadasa and Thissa Abeywardena as Vice Patrons and Eastman Narangoda, Chaminda Vaas, K Shakthidasan as Vice Presidents and Brig Shiran Abeysekera as Secretary and M Rathnaharan as the Treasurer. Other office bearers and Committee members including Captains of sports were appointed. Kusal Janith Perera been appointed as the club’s Cricket Captain for 2019/20 season.

Office bearers:

President: Nishantha Ranatunga

Patron : Trevor Rajaratnam

Vice Patrons: Jagath Savanadasa, Tissa Abeywardene

Vice Presidents: Eastman Narangoda, ChamindaVaas, K. Shakthidasan

General Secretary: Brig Shiran Abeysekera

Treasurer: M. Ratnaharan

Asst. Secretary: Rajeev Munasinghe

Asst. Treasurer: Chandika Jayawardena

Club Captain: Dinesh Wickramanayake

Committee Members: Lester Fernando, S.K. Raveendran, Shane Fernando, Kapila Sumanapala, Sanjaya Laksumanage Ganeshanathan, Dharshika De silva

Hosts South Africa will kickstart the 2020 U-19 World Cup on January 17, when they take on Afghanistan in Kimberley.

The schedule for the 16-team tournament, to be played over 24 days across eight venues, was announced by the ICC on Thursday.

Apart from Kimberley, the games will be played in Benoni, Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom with the final scheduled for February 9. There is free entry to all matches.

Along with Afghanistan, South Africa have UAE and Canada in Group D. Defending champions India are in Group A, slotted with New Zealand, Sri Lanka and first-time qualifiers Japan.

Australia, the runners-up of the 2018 edition, are paired up with England, West Indies and another first-time team Nigeria in Group B while Group C sees Pakistan being joined by Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Scotland.

From each group, the bottom two teams will fight in the Plate tournament while the top two teams will proceed for the Super League stage.

Potchefstroom’s JP Marks Oval will play host to both semi-finals and the final. There are also warm-up games scheduled between January 12-15 in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Japan and Nigeria qualified for the tournament after emerging as champions of the East Asia Pacific and Africa regions. The other three regional qualifiers are Canada (Americas), UAE (Asia) and Scotland (Europe).

With four titles, India have won the most U-19 World Cups. Australia have won three times, Pakistan twice while England, West Indies and South Africa have won once each.

2020 U19 World Cup Groupings

GROUP A:

India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Japan

GROUP B:

Australia, England, West Indies, Nigeria

GROUP C:

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Scotland

GROUP D:

Afghanistan, South Africa, UAE, Canada.

Trinity College and Royal College will fight it out on the hockey field today when they play their 14th hockey championship at the Reid Avenue Astro Turf.

The Under 16 game is played for the Paul Jeyaraj trophy, the under 19 for the J.C.A. Corea trophy and the old boys game for the Col. Bertie Dias Trophy.

Last year the match was played at Asgiriya and Royal College won by one goal to nil in the under 19 game, the under 16 game ended in a one-all draw and the old boys game too ended in a draw (nil-all).

The matches will be played under the distinguished patronage of Dr. Thushara Matiwalage, who captained Royal College in 1991 and also played for Sri Lanka Schools and Combined Schools.

CANBERRA, Thursday - Sri Lanka suffered defeat to start Australia tour after Harry Neilsen’s career-best 79 and late-innings heroics from Fawad Ahmed saw the Prime Minister’s XI clinch a thrilling one-wicket win with a ball to spare in the practice match played at Manuka Oval here on Thursday.

Harry Nielsen, the son of former Australian coach Tim Nielsen and hard-hitting wicketkeeper blasted 79 off 50 balls and also took three catches as the PM’s XI chased down Sri Lanka’s 8-131 with one ball and one wicket to spare thanks to the final-over heroics of Fawad Ahmed.

Nielsen, 24, has played just 11 first-class matches but the opener proved once again he could handle an international attack through his match-winning knock.

He scored a century on his Sheffield Shield debut in the 2017-18 summer, and last season piled up a century in a tour match against the Indian Test side before becoming a rare wicket for Virat Kohli.

“I couldn’t quite get the job done but it was nice to get a few runs,” said Nielsen, who was dismissed with nine runs still required and five balls remaining.

“I was just trying to take it as deep as possible. We kept losing wickets at probably the wrong time and their spinners bowled really well through the middle, I just tried to hit the gaps and run hard.”

Sri Lanka showed glimpses of the talent that saw them beat Pakistan 3-0 recently but left plenty of room for improvement in the Gillette T20 International series against Australia as they struggled to score against an attack that produced 48 dot balls.

In contrast, a wide from Kasun Rajita handed the PM XI’s victory with the extra carrying the hosts to 9-132.

Sri Lanka captain Niroshan Dickwella won the toss and elected to bat but only three players made more than 11 runs, with Oshada Fernando top scoring with 38.

Canberra local Djali Bloomfield (2-17) started the slide when opener Danushka Gunathilaka edged to Nielsen in the second over.

Test star Peter Siddle (1-15) and veteran allrounder Dan Christian (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers with sharp three-over spells.

Outside player-of-the-match Nielsen, only Christian (13) could join Nielsen in reaching double figures.

Former international Chris Lynn was a notable failure, scoring just three and having his leg stump uprooted after stepping outside the line of a ball that shaped back in, having expressed his disquiet at being left out of Australia’s T20 squad earlier this week.

Lakshan Sandakan (3-21) was the pick of the Sri Lankan attack, making inroads into the PM XI’s batting order in the absence of rested skipper Lasith Malinga.

Bangladesh cricketers ended their strike late Wednesday after they said the authorities met most of their demands including a pay hike for domestic first class players.

“The talk was successful,” said Test and Twenty20 captain Shakib al Hasan who played a key role in the unprecedented revolt which started on Monday.

“The BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) president and directors, who were here, heard our demand and they assured us they will meet them at the quickest possible time,” he said.

The decision came as a relief for the BCB after the strike appeared set to jeopardise Bangladesh's lucrative tour of India where Bangladesh would play three T20I and two Test matches beginning early next month.

“Based on their (BCB's) assurance our first-class players will start playing from Saturday and our national team players will join the camp (for India tour) from October 25,” Shakib said.

BCB president Nazmul Hassan said they would meet most of the demands of the players.

“Apart from two demands, we have accepted all nine demands,” Hassan said.

Supreme Court lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan earlier read out a list of demands on behalf of the Bangladeshi cricketers at a news conference, which also included a “feasible” wage for female players.

“Arrangements will have to be made where professional cricketers are given a fair share of the revenue generated by BCB, which, after all, is made possible through the toil and performance of professional cricketers,” said Rahman, citing the example of Australia.

Bangladesh national and first-class players announced the strike calling for better pay and benefits, raising doubt whether the country's tour of India would go ahead.

Shakib, one of the world's finest all-rounders, led the rebellion with all the star players joining the protests.

The strike follows increasing criticism from the players that the BCB, the nation's richest sports body, is not sharing its wealth.

But in his first reaction after the strike, the BCB's president l Hassan called it a “conspiracy” unrelated to pay.

The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations praised the players “for taking a stand together in order to secure fair conditions,” the body's executive chairman Tony Irish said in a statement late on Tuesday.

MUMBAI, Thursday - India have left out captain Virat Kohli from the squad named for three Twenty20 internationals against Bangladesh starting next month, but he will return for two Tests between the South Asian neighbours.

Senior batsman Rohit Sharma will captain the Twenty20 team in the limited-overs series due to begin on November 3 in Delhi.

Uncapped allrounder Shivam Dube has been drafted into the squad in place of injured Hardik Pandya, while Sanju Samson and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have been recalled. Bangladesh had threatened to call off the tour over a domestic pay dispute, but the national board and players resolved their differences late Wednesday.

The second T20 is on November 7 in Rajkot and the third on November 9 in Nagpur. The Test squad is essentially the same that swept South Africa 3-0 in a series that ended this week. That gave India a world record 11th straight home Test series triumph.

T20 SQUAD: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur

TEST SQUAD: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant. – AFP

Minister of Sports Harin Fernando announced the opening of the final stage of the 45th National Sports Festival at the Vincent Dias Stadium in Badulla yesterday with Governor of Uva Province Maithri Guneratne, Uva Chief Minister Laksiri Bandara, Secretary to the Ministry of Sports Chulananda Perera and Director General Sports Dhammika Muthugala also being present.

Two great sports personalities who are products from the Uva Province former national record holder for 400m hurdles Harjan Ratnayake and Shanika Rajapaksa a former woman footballer lit the Olympic Torch to mark the beginning of the Games.

The Minister speaking on the occasion said that this is the first time a mega national event is taking place in Badulla and it makes history for the people of Badulla.

“The biggest problem Sri Lanka has at present is the lack of grounds with synthetic tracks for outstation young sports stars to progress in their careers,” said the Minister.

“There are many grounds for cricket to play international matches but we have only one complex with a synthetic track. It is high time to construct these types of tracks in all nine provinces giving our athletes the opportunity of running on them and gain experience to reach higher standards and qualify for international competition.”

“All authorities should take note of this and they will have to continue to make it a reality for the benefit of our sporting stars who are eagerly waiting to reach the highest levels and to bring glory to the country by competing in international championships,” the Minister said.

Governor Maithri Guneratne addressing the gathering said many young students are unable to continue with their sporting careers mainly due to financial difficulties. “Most of these young hopefuls fade away once they leave school as their parents are unable to bear heavy costs for sporting activities. There have been many instances where parents have approached me for assistance which I have given them according to available resources. This has helped some Uva Province sporting stars to reach national level.”

Today the athletic events commence with the 10,000m men’s and women’s events at 6.00 a.m. and will continue throughout the day. The Festival will come to a close on Sunday with the awards ceremony.

The Mayor of Kandy Kesara Senanayake believes sport is a powerful tool for social change, and can be used to address a range of issues facing communities. He is all out to help with his strategy for sports and physical activity in Kandy. The Mayor’s strategy for sport – Sport for All of Us – will support long-term vision to make the city the most active and socially-integrated city. Kandy Municipal Council is blessed with 24 play grounds which helps sports in a big way and 45 community centers where indoor sports is played. All playgrounds are pocket size, he is keen to expand and help the schools and clubs to play matches. Today there are many schools without grounds like clubs. Only ground they had for matches was the Bogambara Stadium and that too was taken over by the Sports Ministry in late 1990’s. When it was under the Municipality the ground charged only a few hundred rupees. Today the price is sky-high and poor schools and clubs are finding it difficult to pocket out this money. Today there is a crying need for more and more playgrounds with many youngsters taking to sports this will be great help to put youth of today on the correct path.

Stubbs for Sylvestrians

St. Sylvester’s College pugilists came up with a superlative performance to clinch the coveted 102nd Sir R. Edward Stubbs shield boxing championship 2019. St. Sylvester’s College, founded in 1940, who won the Stubbs Shield, last year after ten years is coached by one of their products Bandula Gamage. This time too under his coaching the boxers did well to keep the shield in Kandy with a record tally of four Gold and three Bronze medals. St. Sylvester’s is a school which won the Stubbs Shield within 12 times within 14 years. This is the oldest boxing tournament in the country. The inaugural tournament was held at Royal College Hall in July 1914 and Trinity College Kandy won the first Championship.

Trinity beat Jaffna St. John’s at football

On Monday at Pallekelle rugby grounds , Trinity College overcame a talented Jaffna St. John’s College team by 4 goals to nil in their 3rd football encounter. Trinitians took quite some time to get into the game, but once they did, they excelled. The standout performers were Abdullah who scored two goals and Diviyan and Sameer one each.

New rugby coach for Sri Sumangala

Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College has named former Kingswood College, CH & FC and Kandy SC ruggerite Dinesh Gamage as their new head coach. Dinesh was involved with the Kingswoodians as a coach from 2012 and in 2017 and 2019 was the head coach. He has participated in coaching clinics and used his expertise as an athlete to help guide and direct up-and-coming players. He is an IRB level I and II coach. He has started training the players, and they do their training part at Trinity College grounds at Pallekele. He has also brought in his physical trainer Indunil Wickremasinghe as trainer. They are well supported by their principal B.B.M. Dharmapala and the rugby loving old boys.

First Stubbs shield winners boxed well

Trinity College the first winners of the Sir R. Edward Stubbs shield in 1914 took fifth place at the recent Stubbs Shield tournament. Attaab Manzil won the junior event. Kamal Denagama won Silver in the 69 kg under 20 events and there was Bronze for Waruna Bandara, Hamdan Faizal, Miranga Subasinghe and Zerik Zakeer.

Pathanian to coach Rajans

Dharmaraja College has brought in Lasinth de Costa as their rugby head coach for the coming season. Hailing from Isipathana College he played under the watchful eyes of Sanath Martis and Hisham Abdeen. Lasintha after enjoying a splendid playing career, set his goals to be a coach and coached his school. After his school rugby career, he played for Havelock SC, CR & FC and Sri Lanka; he was top class center-three-quarter. He was awarded the Most Promising Young Player in the Caltex Rugby Awards 2007. He is all out to train the Rajans to achieve success.

10th Trinity-S Thomas’ football encounter drawn

The 10th, Trinity College vs S. Thomas ’ College football encounter played last Saturday at Pallekelle ended in a one-all draw with excellent football played by both teams. At half time Trinity led 1-0 through a goal from Chamith de Alwis. In the second half the Thomians scored off the boot of Anuka Nilaweera.

Ayas leads Azhar College

Azhar College a Muslim school established in 1907 in Akurana in the Kandy District will be led by all-rounder M. S. M. Ayas and coached by Senaka Dissanayake, a product of Dharmaraja College and the only double centurion of the school who later played for BRC, Old Rajans and Kandy Cricket Club. K.M. Ikramis is the MIC. The team is blessed with a well-balanced side, and are well coached. They will play their first game today in Jaffna against Jaffna Central College

Kandy products do well at TT

Kandy products gave their best at the All Island open ranking table tennis championship 2019, organized by the Colombo District T/T association in collaboration with the State Services TT Association and held at S Thomas’ College tables. Star Table tennis player Udaya Ranasinghe a product of Vidyartha College, representing the Old Boys Sports Club won the men’s championship. Other Kandy school products who did well are Under 18 girls Bimandee Bandara of Hillwood College was placed second, in the boys Chadupa Alahakoon of Kingswood College took second place. Under 15 girls Bimandee Bandara Hillwood College took first place, in the boys Dhanushka Wijesinghe of Kingswood College was number two. In Under 10 girls Samindi Weerasooriya of Good Shepherd Convent took first place.

Ekanayake will lead Nugawela at cricket

Nugawela Central College, a school which gives a big hand for cricket will be led by last season’s 1000 run-maker Viraj Ekanayake. He is an all-rounder who bats right hand and bowls right arm fast. They have yet to play a match this season. They have postponed the matches due to wet weather and exams. The school is coached by Sanjeew Bandara. This school produced a leg-spinner Saranga Rajaguru who went on to represent Sri Lanka in the ICC Youth Cricket World Cup 2010 in New Zealand.

KDCA hockey

The Kandy District Hockey Association under the presidency of R. Maheswarn held a meeting on Wednesday and decided to conduct the inter-club men’s league tournament with ten clubs on November 23rd, 24th and 30th at the campus grounds. They are all out to pick a strong side for the junior nationals to be held on 3rd of November in Galle.

Alex Lazarus remembered

Ruggerite and coach Alex Lazarus death was remembered by hundreds of sports lovers of Kandy on his first death anniversary. He passed away at the age of 71 on this day last year. He was a great lover of rugby and at the time of his death he was the Director of Sports at Trinity College.

Pushpadana Colours Award

Pushpadana Girls’ College Kandy, a premier Buddhist school with a history spanning over 131 years held their annual Colours Award Ceremony a few days back to appreciate and reward the achievements of their sporting students who excelled in various sports disciplines. There were 400 winners, the occasion was graced by Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva.

Past cricketers felicitated

The Dharmaraja College Cricket Foundation headed by Nalin Dhamika Abeyakoon awarded three of their top cricketers awards. One time cricketer and coach David Karunaratne, Chamara Kapugedara and a senior MIC from 1970 to 1999 A.C.S. Jambugawatte. The award was presented by one of the finest cricketers and fast bowlers of the mid 1960’s Ananda Jayasundara. Rajans have produced some of the finest cricketers, to name some are T.B. Kehelgamuwa known as the Kandyan Express, D de C Alwis, Tissa Ratnayake, Shanthi Mendis, Mahinda Pethiyagoda, late Arthur Alwis the first centurion in the big match, T.B. Talwatte, Senaka Dissanayake first cricketer of this school to score 1000 runs and the only double centurion in 1983, late Sonny Yatawara also a top fast bowler, Harold Ranasinghe a fine stumper and many more.

VCK rugby starts off with a pirith chanting

Vidyartha College rugby commenced the new season with a pirith chanting ceremony held on October 10 at the Vidyartha College Old Boys Sports Club. In the coming season they will field a young side with a top class coach Danushka Pushpakumra.

Seethadevi hockey champs

Seethadevi Girls College Kandy senior hockey side coached by M.M. Ashroff and Parnadaren Nadaraja, emerged champions at the national school games hockey tournament played at the Digana Sports Complex. In the final they beat Sangamitha BV Matale 5-2. On the way to the finals they beat President’s College Nawala 2-1 in the quarter finals and in the semi-finals beat Holy Family Convent Wennapuwa 3-0. Dilhani Rajapakse won the best player’s award.

Trinity -S. Thomas’ hockey on November 3

The annual Trinity College vs S. Thomas’ College under 16, 19 and old boys hockey matches will take place on Sunday November 3 at Asgiriya Stadium. The winners of the under 19 will be awarded the Warden Neville de Alwis memorial shield which is the 16th encounter for the trophy and the under 16 winners will receive the B.S.G. Sahayam trophy played for the sixth year. The Old Boys match is played for the Mirzan Ousmand trophy. Last year the u 19 game was won by the Thomians 3-0, and the other two games ended in one-all draws.

Munshif leads Madina

Eighty four year old Madawala Madina Central College is a school from Kandy District gives its fullest support for cricket. This season the side is led by M.N.M. Munshif a fine all rounder. They are coached by M. Najimy and P. Ganesh Kumar is the MIC. They were in Jaffna to play St. Patrick’s College in their first game on October 24 and 25 but couldn’t due to bad weather. All players are in top form and are hoping to give their best. Their big match is against Al Azhar College Akurana. This encounter is named as the ‘Battle of The Double Maroons’. This is the only big match in the country between two Muslim schools which commenced in 2008.

The Provincial level cricket matches of the 12th Prima Champions Cup 2019 Under-15 Inter-District and Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament organized by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in partnership with the Prima Group will take place on October 27 and the final match will be held at R. Premadasa International Stadium on November 9.

The Prima Champions Cup allows the participation of over 600 players from all around the country with 39 teams competing against each other at District Level. The 12 best teams from these district teams will be selected for the provincial championship.

Western Province (South), Western Province (South Outer), Western Province (North Outer), North Western Province, North Central Province and Southern Province teams will compete under Group A category while Western Province (Central), Western Province (North), Central Province, Uva Province, Eastern Province and Northern Province will clash with each other under Group B.

Former Prima Champion’s Cup participants include the likes of Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva and many others who are new members of the national cricket team, as well as players such as Anuk Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Minodh Bhanuka, Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Madhushanka, Priyamal Perera, Binura Fernando, Asitha Fernando and a number of other promising cricketers.

“SLC is conducting many tournaments at provincial level, club level and age group levels and I think this Under 15 tournament is the most important tournament, because the Prima Champions Cup is the ideal platform for budding cricketers to showcase their skills and gain the right kind of recognition to further their cricketing dreams,” said Prima Cup Tournament Director Bandula Dissanayake at the press briefing held at SLC Headquarters on Thursday.

“Having successfully conducted this tournament for 11 years with tremendous results, we are proud to continue with the 12th edition of this effort to develop junior cricket with the renewal of our partnership with the SLC. We believe that it is our responsibility to encourage and inspire youngsters to improve themselves and gain recognition for their talents. The Prima Champions Cup serves as a means for aspiring young cricketers to further develop their cricketing careers to national and hopefully international levels. We at Prima take great pride in sponsoring the Prima Champions Cup and we are ever grateful to our supportive partner with Sri Lanka Cricket,” stated the General Manager of Ceylon Agro Industries (Prima Group) Shun Tien Shing.

The Prima Champions Cup will undoubtedly help the young cricketers gain confidence and experience in the coming years. The choice of R.Premadasa Stadium for the final matches gives these players a rare opportunity to play at an international venue.

S. Thomas’ College Mt Lavinia regained the Nalanda Ellawala challenge trophy after four years when they defeated Trinity College Kandy 3-2 in their fifth annual table tennis encounter held at the S. Thomas’ College indoor stadium.

The Thomians were led by Shenuka Ratnayake and the team comprised Asel Wickramathilake, Yohan Gomez, Dinusha Ranasinghe and O. Shivasanka.

S. Thomas’ also won the under 15 contest beating Trinity College to retain the Prof. Indra de Soyza challenge trophy for the fifth consecutive year. The team comprised Adesh, Minosh, Pramuk and Cooray.

Trinity however won the under 12 encounter beating the Thomians 3-0.

The Thomian team was coached by former Sri Lanka player and national champion Nimal H Perera.

Sri Lanka Karting Circuit (SLKC) will host the ‘Pink’ race on October 26 from 9am onwards in Bandaragama especially for lady drivers.

Whether a first time karter, regular racer or just having love for speed here’s the chance for the ladies to show off their skills behind the wheel.

A charity race in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all registration fees from this race will be donated to Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama. Top three drivers in each race category will take home attractive medals and bragging rights while helping a worthy cause. There will be separate races for Juniors (13-15 years), Seniors (16-30 years) Masters (31-44 years) and Veterans (45 years and above). Deadline for entries is October 25, 2019 and lady drivers who wish to participate can call Thineth on 0771648996 to register. Breast Cancer Awareness Month held every October helps to increase attention and support for awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care for Breast Cancer around the world and SLKC aims to support the cause through the Pink race.

K. Kavishka Hansajith of the Chilaw Ananda National School won the 100 metres and 1000 metres track events at the Wayamba Province Inter School Sports Meet held recently.

(Picture by Athukorala U Gunapala, Arachchikattuwa group cor.)