The fifteenth encounter The “Battle of the Golds” between Prince of Wales’ College and St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa was worked off at Cambrian Grounds in March 1963 turned up to be a spectators match as usual with a thumping crowd from all corners of the Cricket Crazy City of Moratuwa.

It ended in a tame draw and it was the ninth drawn game in the series.

Honours at least, the major share of this went to the Cambrians as they had a lead of 127 runs in the first essay and Cambrians produced their sixth centurion of the series Raja Peiris who surpassed the previous highest score held by Winston G. Fernando and Sunil de Silva both Cambrians who were unbeaten on 132 runs Raja scored 140 runs. The two captains were Vernon de Mel for Cambrians and Ian Barthelot for Sebs respectively.

Barthelot called the coin correctly and elected to bat and were all out for 176 runs with the top score of 76 runs by Sumithra Fernando and the Vice Captain Ryle de Mel was the pick of the bowlers for homesters with 3 for 22. At the end of day one Cambrians were in the box seat with 179 for 4 with Raja Peiris and Sarath de Silva unbeaten on 89 and 38 runs respectively.

When the game resumed on day two Peiris went on to complete a well compiled 140 runs with 21 hits to the ropes and Cambrians declared at 303 for 8 and Silva too contributed 41 runs. M. Fernando was the most successful bowler for the visitors with 4 for 49 runs and at the close Sebs were 139 for 6 with Sumithra Fernando scoring 31 runs and Vernon de Mel bagged 3 wickets for 15 runs.

The 105th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Havelock Sports Club the first winners of the Clifford Cup will take place on Saturday, 18th July at 11:00 am at the Club house. The AGM which is usually held in June had to be postponed by a few weeks in compliance with the directives issued by the Government of Sri Lanka in light of the COVID -19 pandemic, and in consideration of the health and safety of all members. In the last three years Romesh Abeyawickrema as president, Tiny Samat as secretary and the rest of the committee members kept the club affairs in a good way.

The committee has recommended appointing double international and distinguished former captain Royden De Silva as a Life Member. Followed by Elect of Patron vice Patron,Trustees, President and elect of Office Bearers and Committee Members, Chairman, Disciplinary Committee, Notify appointment of Rugby Captain.

Whatever said and done the present committee headed by Romesh Abeyawickrema former Josephian sportsman and secretary Tiny Samat and the committee have given their best to the club to keep the club in the best order. Havelock Sports Club has a long history and Rugby is the club’s main sporting activity. The “Havies”, as they are commonly known amongst its members. The club has produced some excellent players.

The inspiration and keenness of setting up the club came from none other than a boy named Roy Joachim. In 1915 Roy together with the other boys got about setting up the club never dreaming that their juvenile efforts would reach maturity and that the club would exist to take its place in the front ranks of the local sports celebrating 105 years this year.

During that time tennis ball cricket and football were played regularly and were the most favoured sports. Hockey was introduced at a later stage. Gradually interest in rugby grew and became popular and dominated the game and won the Clifford Cup on 14 occasions. and last win was the last tournament after a lapse of 38 years.

The Cricket Coaches Association in Matara District distributed sports footwear to selected 125 School cricketers and 30 Cricket coaches in Matara district at Uyanwatte stadium Matara on recently.

Priyantha Uyanahewa proprietor of “Sports Zone” sponsored this event

the cost of the footwear is over Rs. 600,000.

Dr. Maneesha Priyanthi Siriwardhane Medical Officer, Prasanna Galappatthi Secretary of Matara District Cricket Association, Gihan Battage, Rohan Ariyathilake (President of CCAMD) and all members the association participated at this event. (YK)

In my first column last week I made mention of the excellent Colombo school cricketers who donned pads and who crowds flock every week to watch their heroics.

Today I mention outstation cricketers who were also talented and who could have held their own against the best Colombo school cricketers, but must be stated were not given fixtures by the leading Colombo Schools.

At the time of writing the national team is dominated by several cricketers from the outstations which has done those schools and its cricketers proud.

Before going on to sing the praises of the outstation cricketers now dominating the game, it is important that I mention the former Sri Lankan off spinning all rounder ABU FUARD who brought outstations cricketers to rub shoulders with their counterparts in Colombo and show them that what they can do we can do better.

During the early days before Sri Lanka took its rightful seat with the lords at Lord’s, only ‘whistle stop’ or an unofficial game was played here or a team made an occasional tour, the Sri Lanka teams were made up of cricketers from Royal and S. Thomas, Mount Lavinia.

The team selections went like this – five Royalists, five Thomians and the eleventh player too would have been from the two schools if not for the indispensable, mercurial and elegant batsman from Wesley College the one and only MAHADEVAN SATHASIVAM who could not be left out.

Watching this Royal-Thomian dominance from the sidelines and who too suffered because of this dominance was ABU FUARD who unable to tolerate this injustice took it upon himself to change the scenario.

Firstly he broke the dominance where Old Royalists and Old Thomians held sway in the Cricket Board. When election time came around he fielded as officials from the schools that were neglected and leading a vigorous campaign he succeeded in getting his men in to the administration which prompted a change giving outstation school cricketers recognition.

What some of the outstation school cricketers did in international cricket is down in history now and like good wine needs no bush. With the doors to represent the country open outstation cricketers began blossoming and the national team today sees a lot of outstation representation.

That was the turning point in the history of the game and cricketers from the outstations must pay pooja to FUARD for breaking through that elite circle and giving them a place in the sun and these cricketers did not let him down showing their prowess in the game.

FUARD who was a rare all round cricketer to come out of Wesley College which school also gave Brian Claessen as a schoolboy cricketer to the country, suffered untold discrimination and this made him turn rebel and revolt against the domination of the elite.

Cricketers who shot like bolts from the blues and put the country in equal terms with international teams were Sanath Jayasuriya who I tagged the ‘black superman’, Champaka Ramanayake, Pramodaya Wickremasinghe, Jayananda Warnaweera, Lasith Malinga, Ajit de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Ravindra Pushpaumara and Don Anurasiri come to mind.Now there are many.

Most of them donned the Sri Lankan cap with great pride and showed that they could do better were Jayasuriya, Ramanayake, Wickremasinghe, Ajit de silva and Dinesh Chandimal.

Then other cricketers who entered the portals were Muttiah Muralitheran who is the highest wicket taker in Test cricket, Ruwan Kalpage, Kumar Sangakkara who is riding a crest of a wave of success in administration after retirement, Sonny Yatawara, T.B.Kehelgamuwa, Dilhara Fernando, Dhammika Prasad, Sandakan Lakshan, Warindu Hasaranga and many others.

In my last week’s column I did not mention some of the other leading schools that produced crowd drawing cricketers. Here goes – L.R. Gunetilleke, Russel Hamer and Amresh Rajaratnam (Wesley), Muttiah Devaraja, Ghulam Razick, Sylvester Dias and B.N.Mahmood –(Zahira)- T.B. Kehelgamuwa, Sonny Yatawara, Ananda Jayasundera, S.U. Mendis, Mahinda Pethiyagoda, Chamara Kapugedera (Dharmaraja).

Incidentally Kapugedera was an excellent right hand batsman who made big scores in school and club cricket that made the national cricket selectors plonk him into the national squad.

On a tour of the West Indies Kapugedera made a grand knock at the Trinidad and Tobago Oval where some of the great West Indian batsmen were present and they watched in awe his masterly batting.

I was present there covering the Sri Lanka team’s tour for the ‘Daily News’ and ‘Sunday Observer’ and when asked the Windies greats told me that he is a batsman of class with the right temperament, technique and excellent strokes and should be a permanent fixture in the Sri Lanka squad.

But calamity struck Kapugedera after a successful run in the national team when he ran into turbulence with poor scores and the selectors of that time, unlike they did with other cricketers who fail dropped Kapugedera and he went off the radar. Great talent wasted.

In the Kandy circuit there were Nihal Samarasekera, Malcom Perera, Ishak Shabdeen, Tony Dirckze, Foumy and Hilmi Marikar of (St Sylvester’s) sons of the best outstanding all round sportsman produced from that school M.E. Marikar who was unfortunate not to win national colours in cricket, football and boxing.

Kingswood had the famous Owen Mottau in cricket and rugby,H.Perusinghe, Herbie Jayasuriya, Ajit Gannoruwa and Clifford Ratnabuvshana. Vidyatha had R.M. Lafir and C.K. Gajanayake.

One also can’t forget the eye catching talent that emerged from Jaffna but could not bloom and blossom because of the war. Sathidevan Devendra, Thievendren, Sivendra, Sothlingam, Suriyakumar, Gangederan, Sureshkumar who played for the national schools, Kanananyagam, Ganeshkumar, Naguleswaran, Anton Benedict, Nadarajasunderam and many others who do not come to mind.

In going down memory lane to find these names my thanks go out to the famous Neil Wijeratne, Hafiz Marikar and the great Nimal Lewke who helped me out.

erodrigopulle@gmail.com

Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews said that he is hoping to explore every opportunity in an attempt to boost his skill level during the second-phase of training session for the National players which began at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy yesterday.

A total of 24 players are currently participating in this training programme conducted by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) under the supervision of Head Coach Mickey Arthur along with Grant Flower (Batting Coach), Dilshan Fonseka (Trainer) and Ajantha Wattegama (Physiotherapist).

“After about three months the second group of players started training with the National squad and we hope to train really well and get ourselves ready for the next tour,” Mathews stressed. The Coronavirus pandemic has already caused a severe blow to SLC with the postponement of the home series against England, South Africa, Bangladesh and India.

But all-rounder Mathews believes that their prime goal is to be prepared to perform well against any opposition under any conditions.

“Our job is to try and stay fit, stay focused on the game and to be ready to perform whenever the opportunity arises,” Mathews added further.

Meanwhile, another former Skipper Dinesh Chandimal said that he is pleased to get back into serious training with the rest of the players after a lapse of nearly three months.

“We were able to maintain our fitness level thanks to the guidance and the diet plan provided by the SLC trainers during the lockdown period,” Chandimal elaborated.

Earlier, the first-phase of training revolved mainly through fast bowlers and spinners where players in the calibre of Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lakshan Sandakan, Dasun Shanaka, Nuwan Pradeep and Wanindu Hasaranga had the opportunity of participating.

The 11 new players who were added to the second-phase of training are, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Avishka Fernando, Dilruwan Perera and Oshada Fernando.

The Sport Ministry has planned to conduct the 46th National Sports Festival (NSF) as scheduled. The Inter district and inter provincial competitions will conclude before October 31. This was annuanced during a special meeting at the Sports Ministry.

A senior Sport Ministry official said all provincial sport directors and senior officials of the Sport Ministry have attended the successful meeting last week and finally made the decision to conduct the National sport festival as scheduled. They all wanted to finish NSF before the year end. Earlier some officials said this year Sports Festival will not be held due to corona virus epidemic. However earlier they planned to conduct final stage of the NSF from September 4 to 6 at the Sugathadasa Stadium. But due to this global epidemic NSF will be conducted during Novemeber - December. It will not be postponed to next year.

Originally the athletic meet was planned to be held in Colombo and other team sports scheduled to be held in outstations. According to the new plan, the dates of a few events may be changed.

Most of the divisional secretariat level competitions have already concluded before the lockdown.

This National sports Festival was started in 1972 but due to unavoidable circumstances three years (1977, 1983 and 1987) it was not conducted.

Meanwhile Provincial sport directors already requested from the sport Ministry to increase the payments for the first stage of the divisional, district and provincial competitions. The sport Director General has already submitted this matter to the Sport Minister and hope to increase the payments.

Already sport Ministry has given Rs 100,000 to conduct divisional secretariat competitions. Also Rs 200,000 and Rs 300,000 were granted for the second stage of inter-district competitions and provincial competitions respectively.

The Olympic Day Celebrations 2020 was held in grand fashion at the National Olympic Committee Sri Lanka headquarters in Colombo yesterday with a difference due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The celebrations were graced by the Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Akira Sugiyama who planted a ‘Mee’ tree (Madhuca Longifolia) – a tree that provides Oxygen to the atmosphere. The event was held under the theme of “Plant a tree for a new lease of life”. The president NOC SL Suresh Subramaniam, Secretary General NOC SL Maxwell de Silva and K.D.S. Ruwanchandra Secretary Ministry of Sports were also participated. Over three hundred athletes and others planted over 300 trees around the island during the last two weeks.

Guest of honour Sri Lanka’s Olympic silver medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe, former Sri Lanka cricket captain Roshan Mahanama and former National sprint champion Summa Navaratnam were also participated, representing sporting icons. (KR)

Sri Lankan former players will return to play cricket after the Covid-19 pandemic when the Puttalam District Cricket Association (PDC) T-10 league starts on June 25 to 6th July at Anuradhapura. However Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) yesterday made a media release said non of the contracted players of the SLC have sought permission to take part in a contest of such not SLC has endorsed a tournament of such.

Former Sri Lanka players Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachitra Senanayake, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Thushara Mirando, Ishara Amarasinghe, Dhammika Prasad, Chamara Silva and Asela Gunaratna are the few players who received invitation to play this tournament. However some of the players said they never confirmed to participate.

Especially after the Covid -19 pandemic the players have to participate this tournament with the instructions from the health officials, said one of the players who already got invitation for this tournament.

The tournament will include a total of eight teams, namely - Hurricane Blasters, Spartan Heroes, Power Gladiators, Chillaw Warriors, Puttlum Stars, Global Riders, Royal Lions and Giant Legends. These will be divided into two groups, with each team playing a total of nine group games and one against a team from the other group. The teams Spartan Heroes, Puttalum Stars, Chillaw Warriors are in pool 1 while Global Riders, Hurricane Blasters, Power Galdiaters and Giant Legends are in pool 2.

The group stage will be played in the round-robin league format which will be followed by the qualifiers and eliminator games before playing the final which scheduled on July 6.

The much awaited Lanka Premier League (LPL) will get under way from August 8 to 20 in three venues with the participation of five teams.

One of the long standing dreams of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to make this most popular T20 format encounter a reality. The tournament will attract a maximum of six foreign players from, which four will be eligible to represent their team in a perticulor match. A total of 13 matches will be played in the whole tournament which will include one round robin game then followed by the semifinals and the finals. Two matches will confronted per day in a single venue. R Premadasa Stadium which under renovation will host the round robin matches along with Rangiri Dambulla stadium. The semifinals and the final fixtures are scheduled to be played at Pallakele stadium in Kandy.

The SLC is in hunt for a sponsor for which deadline is posted for end of this month. The Expression of Interest (EOI) has been sent to several parties and is likely to be finalized by the end of this month. The participating teams will be named as per the franchiser.

This will enable the selectors to unearth the hidden talent to pick the players for the forthcoming T20 World Cup which is to be staged in Australia in October.

The cricket loving public in the country will get an opportunity to witness some enthralling game of cricket after almost over five months due the out break of the Covid-. 19 Pandemic.

Belgrade, Tuesday: World number one Novak Djokovic said Tuesday he had tested positive for coronavirus, the Serb star becoming the fourth player to contract the virus after taking part in his exhibition tennis tournament in the Balkans.

Djokovic, who is "not showing any symptoms" according to a statement from his spokesperson, joins Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki in testing positive for COVID-19. Djokovic said his wife Jelena also tested positive while the results of their children were negative.

"I am extremely sorry for each individual case of infection," the 33-year-old Serb said in a statement.

"I hope that it will not complicate anyone's health situation and that everyone will be fine," the 17-time Grand Slam winner said, adding that he would go into self-isolation for the next 14 days.

Bulgaria's Dimitrov, the world number 19, announced on Sunday he had tested positive after pulling out of the event, the biggest since the tennis season was halted because of the pandemic.

Croatia's Coric and Troicki of Serbia also followed suit on Monday, revealing they also had tested positive. Sunday's final in the Croatian coastal town of Zadar, which was supposed to feature Djokovic and Russia's Andrey Rublev, was cancelled.

Some 4,000 fans watched the first leg of the tournament in Belgrade earlier this month.

The slew of positive tests raises questions over the sport's planned return in August. AFP

Milan, Monday: Former Italy international striker Pierino Prati, winner of the 1968 European Championship and 1970 World Cup finalist, has died aged 73, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said Monday.

Prati won 14 caps for the Azzurri between 1968 and 1974, scoring seven goals.

He came through AC Milan's youth team, playing for his hometown club from 1967 to 1973, and netted a hat-trick in the 1969 European Cup final victory over Johan Cruyff's Ajax. His league-best 15 goals helped Milan to the 1967-68 title, and Prati would also lift two Italian cups, two European Cup Winners' Cups, and the Intercontinental Cup. He moved to Roma from 1973 until 1977, and also played for Salernitana, Savona, Roma, Fiorentina and US club Rochester Lancers.

Prati subsequently embarked on his coaching career with Lecco, Solbiatese, Sporting Bellinzago and Pro Patria. AFP

Dhaka, Tuesday: New Zealand's Test tour of Bangladesh has been postponed over the coronavirus, the hosts said on Tuesday as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on sport.

New Zealand were due to play two Tests in Bangladesh in August-September as part of the ICC World Test Championship. Three Bangladesh cricketers, including former one-day international captain Mashrafe Mortaza, have tested positive in recent days.

The governing bodies from both countries were working on new dates for the series, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said.

"In the present COVID-19 pandemic scenario, hosting a full cricket series in August 2020 will be a challenge in terms of preparations," BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said in a statement. He added that organisers did not want to risk the safety and health of players, support staff and others. Australia's tour of Bangladesh, which was due to be played in June, was also postponed in April as the pandemic took hold. AFP

Karachi, Tuesday: Seven more Pakistan players due to tour England in August have tested positive for coronavirus, the country's cricket board said Tuesday, taking the total to 10 since the first results were announced this week.

Pakistan are due to depart for England on Sunday ahead of a series that will see them play three Tests and three Twenty20 internationals against England, starting in August.

Despite the new cases, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief executive Wasim Khan insisted the tour would still go ahead.

"The tour is very much on the track and the squad will depart as per schedule on June 28th," said Khan.

Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Kashif Bhatti are the latest to be diagnosed with the virus.

It comes after three cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and Haider Ali tested positive on Monday. The team’s massage therapist has also tested positive. Pakistan is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, with more than 180,000 so far, including 3,590 deaths, while cases are falling in Britain. AFP

With the city of Melbourne showing a spike in the number of Coronavirus cases, chances are that the game might be moved to Perth, where the situation is much better.

Australia captain Tim Paine is worried about the iconic Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground against India later this year being moved out of Melbourne due to the Coronavirus threat in the city. The four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scheduled to start December 3 later this year, kicks off at Brisbane, followed by Test matches at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

However, with the city of Melbourne showing a spike in the number of Coronavirus cases recently, chances are that the game might be moved to Perth, where the situation is much better. The Optus Stadium has a capacity of 60,000 and is considered one of the best cricket stadiums in the country after the MCG.

“Certainly, from a player’s point of view, we want to be playing in front of big crowds at the best venues and a big day like Boxing Day is something that everyone looks forward to and a big part of that is playing at the MCG,” Paine said in a video message posted on CA website.

“Fingers crossed things are going well enough that we can do that but, as I said, we are spoilt for choice here in Australia with some world-class stadiums. If something had to change, then, again, we have plenty of options.”

A day after Christmas, December 26 is celebrated in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada as Boxing Day. In Australia, the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) hosts the Boxing Day Test match every year from December 26 to 30 between the Australian side and any side which is on that particular tour. The first Boxing Day Test match took place between Australia and England in 1950.

India has played Boxing Day Test matches in Australia in 1985, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2018. With six months to go, things may or may not improve in time. The participation of fans is also a factor for the Boxing Day Test, which usually sees an attendance up to 95000 on Day of the Test.

“Given the current circumstances, I dare say everything is well and truly on the table. We are hopeful that everywhere we play come summertime, we would be able to have crowds,” he said. “How big they are, we don’t know, obviously. But it’s a difficult one for anyone to answer because there is so much changing week to week, day to day.”

New Delhi, Wednesday: “First love cannot be forgotten,” is how one member of Kapil Dev’s team describes India’s debut cricket World Cup win in 1983 -- a victory that aroused passions so fierce they would change the game forever.

When ‘Kapil Devils’ stunned the West Indies at Lord’s, the traditional home of cricket, it triggered an obsession with the sport in India and created its biggest market -- ultimately making India’s board the richest and most powerful in the world. India was previously a hockey-loving nation, owing to their five Olympic gold medals between 1948 and 1980. But on June 25, 1983, India’s cricketers became world-beaters.

Nobody saw the victory coming, after India came into the one-day tournament with just one win -- against East Africa -- in the previous two editions.

“We never, ever imagined we would reach the quarter-final or the knockout stage,” Syed Kirmani, the team’s flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman, told AFP.

“A few of my colleagues in that team had expressed themselves that ‘we are going to have fun, enjoy ourselves and that’s it’.

“But we laid a very strong foundation by winning the Cup. It is like the first love cannot be forgotten. Thirty-seven years have gone, people still remember our victory.” He added: “The younger generation are also keen to know when we won the first World Cup and who were the players. Oh God, it is a fantastic, nostalgic feeling.”

Watershed moment

India’s run to the title is soon to get the Bollywood treatment, with popular actor Ranveer Singh playing Dev.

MS Dhoni later led India to the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup title in 2007 and their second ODI world trophy in 2011, but the victory in England will always remain a watershed moment.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is now the wealthiest association in the game and players like Sunil Gavaskar, part of the 1983 team, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli have been instrumental in taking Indian cricket to greater heights.

“The board started getting commercial benefits only after the World Cup win and for us it was a game-changer,” Sunil Valson, who was part of the 14-member squad, told AFP.

“Understand nowadays whenever the Indian team goes for a World Cup the expectations are so high on them. But in ‘83 nobody expected it, but the way we played was just amazing.

“’83 will be ‘83, that changed the passion, the trend. Money came into the sport much later, but certainly it was a great victory that came against any expectations.”

‘One man’s genius’

India were reeling at 17 for five in a crucial group match against Zimbabwe when Dev’s unbeaten 175 won the game and proved to be the turning point for their campaign. Kapil’s Devils outplayed hosts England in the semi-finals and then defended a modest total of 183 in the title clash. Roger Binny, who sent back West Indies skipper Clive Lloyd for eight in the final, said Dev’s leadership and India’s all-rounders were key to the team’s success.

“I think it has got be the all-rounders. If you see the scores in all the matches, contributions came from the latter half of the team,” Binny told AFP.

“Definitely one strong point was (Dev’s) captaincy. Also when we beat the West Indies in the first game in Manchester, that lifted the spirit of the guys.” Veteran journalist Ayaz Memon, one of the half-a-dozen Indian journalists that travelled to the World Cup’s third edition, said optimism was non-existent at the start.

“Expectations were zero when we went, because India’s past record in the World Cups had been dismal,” Memon told AFP. “I did not even see the first match, India v West Indies, because I thought they would lose easily, but a lot of things conspired to make it India’s tournament.

“I was witness to Kapil Dev’s innings at Tunbridge Wells (against Zimbabwe). BBC was on one-day strike, so there was no radio or TV commentary. One man’s genius gave India the direction to go for glory. It lifted up the self-belief in the team.”

He added: “In 1983, what India did was turn the game upside completely on its head in the power matrix. Suddenly you found India were champions, therefore their participation in the sport became greater and bigger.”

AFP

General Secretary of the Public Service Sports Club, Kandy, Walter Ranasinghe is an Old Boy of Dharmaraja College,Kandy who is in this position since 2005 and a most efficient worker who has done vast improvements to the Club. Being an outstanding Sportsman in his mid sixtees he was involved in Judo, Karate and Boxing at school level and he is a Brown belt in Judo who has done Boxing at the Stubbs Shield and Junior National Boxing meets along with Gunathilake Brothers, Jayasundera Bros, Ananda de Alwis and A. Moonamale to name a few. With He is also a wellknown sports organizer who has organized Cricket Tournaments, Walking Races, Bridge, Carom and Billiard tournaments etc. annually to the Members of the Club.

The Public Service Club of Kandy was inaugurated by then Government Agent late Sir Richard Aluwihare in 1946. This is the only Club in Kandy for the recreation of the Govt. servants and their families. Walter Ranasinghe takes this opportunity to thank the former General Secretary, Late D.Ranasinghe from preventing the Club being shifted to another premises with the help of former President D.B.Wijetunge.

Other than the Club tournaments, the Club is organizing annual Cricket Tournaments for the Government Departments in the Central province for the Sir Richard Aluwihare Memorial Trophy Tournament. Walter Ranasinghe told this correspondent that due to Covid – 19 epidemic most of the tournaments are indefinitely postponed this year.

We, the Sport Shooting community of Sri Lanka, were taken by surprise when a news telecast in one of the leading electronic media institutions (on 23rd June, 2020) and subsequent newspaper articles communicated completely incorrect facts criminalizing the Sport Shooting community of Sri Lanka.

It said that according to the Police Spokesman, the firearm used by an individual, who supposedly committed suicide on 12th June, where the body of the deceased was found in Independence Square, was the same type of firearm used for Sport Shooting. It further stated that .22 (point 22) firearms require no license.

Firstly, it clearly shows that the individual responsible for such an irresponsible statement has no idea what is categorized as a firearm, according to the Firearm Act and has not seen a Sporting Firearm of the same caliber.

The firearm used by the deceased individual to commit suicide was a .22 semi-automatic micro pistol. This kind of firearm is not used for competitions by the National Shooting Sport Federation of Sri Lanka (NSSF) for any of its Shooting disciplines.

Another false fact that was telecast was that .22 caliber firearms does not need licensing. This is completely false, because all .22 Rifles and Pistols coming under the purview of the NSSF are checked thoroughly and licensed annually.

So any attempt to degrade our very stringent controls that have been put in place will only lead to expose those who make statements due to the lack of knowledge. Our Technical Teams within the NSSF shall be more than happy to conduct a full day workshop to educate and showcase the types of firearms that are used by the NSSF.

At NSSF, every single licensed firearm holder’s participation is closely monitored and all aspects are taken into consideration when renewing a firearm license. The issue of a firearm license is an even more stringent procedure and thereby the NSSF maintains an unblemished record to date. The 17 affiliates of the NSSF too have been maintaining absolute discipline within their associations and have contributed to the development of a large population of youth who are focused, intelligent, respectful, self-restrained and thoughtful about others and their surroundings.

An ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) shooter can be easily recognized because they shine in society. Parents of children who have been taken to the Sport of Shooting will bear witness to the same.

We, the NSSF, hereby wish to appeal to the administrators and the society, to supports our efforts which will ultimately contribute to a disciplined, law abiding society through our carefully thought-out training programmes. -NSSF Press Release

Kandy’s greatest living hockey player, coach, umpire P. Thangavelu, a product of St. Anthony’s College and St. Sylvester’s College will be celebrating his 96th birthday soon, a perfect gentlemen. He always greets with a smile and during his days and was the most successful hockey player, coach, umpire and promoter of Kandy hockey has ever seen. During his playing days hockey was Kandy’s most popular game. He started his studies at St. Anthony’s College in 1937 and continued till this school became St. Sylvester’s College in 1941 and after leaving school he joined the staff of St. Sylvester’s College as Bursar and when the school was taken over by the Government he became a government servant and served for nearly 35 years. Then in 1983 he joined St. Anthony’s College staff as a Bursar accountant and retired in 2009 after twenty five years of service. For his good social and sports work he was appointed a Justice of peace in 1991.

During his school days he played hockey his favorite sport and football. At hockey he was a stylish player and an expert in ball-handling. Later he played club hockey for Young Stars SC and Kandy. Then he took up coaching and coached St. Sylvester’s for over 30 years and some of his products were S. Adikaram, Mervyn Rodrigo, Maithri Rajapakse, Nihal Samarasekera, A.J.J. Solamon brothers, S. Kumarlingam, T.S.Hasan, Davild brothers Gerad, Kingsllley, Sydney and Rodney, Malcolm Perera, S. Shanmugalingam, T.E. Badurdeen, M.Ayub, Sunil Perera, M.Razik, Ranjith Gunasekera, G.M.N.Fernando, Trevor Melder. Colombage brothers Edward and Ranjith to name a few.

He was a top class coach, and guided the players in the right path and selected the best players to play the game. He later became a top grade Umpire and was seen in most of the school and club matches with the whistle, where he was up to date on his job.

He was with the Kandy Distinct Hockey Association committee for over 50 years as a committee member, General Secretary, Vice President, Patron and advisor. He was also the treasurer of the Kandy Association Football League and Referees Association for nearly twenty years. He is also the treasurer of the Kandy and Sri Lnka schools Boxing Association. Then in social activities he was the General Secretary of the Central Province Hindu Association Trust, Member of the Sri Lanka India cultural association and committee member of the Peace and Harmony Association of the Kandy Gramaseva division.

He gave his best for hockey in Kandy for boys and girls schools and also helped the Municipal Council Play Grounds Department to promote hockey. There are over thousands of hockey players who learnt and corrected the game under his guidance.

In an article by P. Thnagavelu for the 37th National Hockey Championship which was held in Kandy in 1992, he has said in the magazine that he is delighted to write a brief account regarding Kandy hockey, record reveals that hockey in Kandy dates back to 1907. After the formation of the KDHA a few teams took part in the tournaments, St. Anthony’s under the name of (Hotspurs), Kingswood, Trinity (Rabits), Kandy Rovers, Imperial Motor Garage, Police and Indian students hostel, nurturing Kandy hockey. In 1938 Hotspurs hockey team was the league champions winning all their games and during the World War II a large number of clubs and schools including foreign teams took part in the game. He has also mentioned, people like ever green M.S. Jainudeen the secretary of KDHA went all out to popularize the game in Kandy. During this period he had the fullest support and co-operation of great players of the caliber of Philip Bultjens, H.W. Bobby Jayaweera, Sam Elhart, Robert Wright, the Robert brohers Dennis and Peter, A.L. Perumal, Leonidas James, M.I. Bin Ismail, and Freddie White, who was considered as the best goal keeper not only in Ceylon but also in Asia.

M.S. Jainudeen took over the reins as the president and he P. Thangavelu became the secretary of KDHA. The committee comprised of several gentlemen in the caliber of G.H. Robinson, S.P.F.C.S Charnivel SP Kandy, and Dr. Samad Ismail who later became president, Leslie Handunge, H.W. Bobby Jayaweera, Philip Bultjens, A.L. Perumal, H. Wijekoon, Parine Silva, and Fr. Dom George. It was during this period P.T.Rajan, donated a challenge trophy for the league tournament.

He also mentioned the service rendered by Roy de Silva who was one time a long standing president of the parent body and Kandy DHA.Then for a couple of years hockey in Kandy was in the doldrums. Thangavelu paid a tribute to Hafiz Marikar JP., MMC and sports writer from Kandy who spotlighted the activities of the KDHA in the paper in 1988. This opened the eyes of some youngsters in Kandy who formed clubs and played in the Kandy DHA tournament for the PT Rajan trophy. Due to various reasons even they could not carry tournaments in Kandy and Marikar brought in SSP – Lakshman Senavirthne to KDHA and his first task was to unite the clubs and members as one Unit., in which he was successful in this venture. Then he together with the committee organized the Men’s and Women’s tournament for the Himalaya challenge trophy for women and P. Thangaveloo trophy for men’s. Where KH & FC won both men and women’s tournament.

This account of the KDHA may not be a complete one due to the poor availability of records in the recent years.

The Chess Federation of Sri Lanka donated Rs. 1 Million to COVID 19 - Healthcare and Social security Fund of Sri Lanka with the support of the Sri Lankan Chess Community. Here, Vice President of the Asian Chess Federation Luxman Wijesuriya of CFSL is handing over the documents to Gotabaya Rajapaksha, the president of Sri Lanka, in the presence of Sandamali Aviruppola - Vice President of CFSL and Erosh Jayasinghe Treasurer of CFSL.

YK

Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) hopes of hosting the 2020 Asia Cup received a huge boost when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officially issued the green light to the island-nation yesterday.

“We are hopeful of having the Asia Cup because Sri Lanka has not had too many cases of the Coronavirus,” PCB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wasim Khan had stated during a media conference.

“The Asia Cup will go ahead. The Pakistan team returns from England on September 2. So, we can have the tournament in September or October. There are some things which will only get clear in the due course of time,” he added.

Meanwhile, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva welcomed PCB’s move and said that it would provide a great chance for the home fans to witness some top cricket after a long break.

“The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) of course will have to provide the final decision and all member countries will also need to give their consent to travel, for us to go ahead with the tournament,” de Silva told the Daily News yesterday.

“The countries will have different kinds of travel bans and that is something we will have to assess after another week or two to see whether all the teams can travel,” he emphasised.

Pakistan was the original host of the 2020 Asia Cup, but had agreed to let Sri Lanka conduct the biennial tournament in return for hosting the next regional event due to the rising cases of COVID-19.

In fact, amongst the Asian countries, Sri Lanka has remained as one of the safest places while their neighbours India is gradually developing as the epicentre.

Therefore, Sri Lanka has emerged as the strongest contender to host the 2020 edition of the Asia Cup Cricket Tournament.

The previous edition of the Asia Cup was worked off in September 2018 in the United Arab Emirates with the participation of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

However, Sri Lanka had bitter memories on that occasion where they were knocked out from the ‘Super Four’ after losing both preliminary round fixtures.

The Lankans went down to Bangladesh by a massive 137 runs in their Group ‘B’ opening game and then suffered a shock 91-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan.

India went on to emerge champions – their seventh title – when they edged out Bangladesh in the final by three wickets in a last-ball thriller.

Sri Lanka last won the Asia Cup way back in 2014 and overall they have clinched the title on five occasions with Pakistan having won the tournament on one occasion.