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Outstation Schools dominate athletics by Shirajiv Sirimane Six of the records came up in the field events while the track records were many from the 800 metres events. Once again the outstation school dominated the events. The boys championship was led by schools like Walallawita Ratnayake MV and Henegama MV while St. Peters and Ananda were in the third and fourth slots. In the girls championships Sumana BMV Ratnapura, Kegalle BMV were in the forefront while St. Bridgets Colombo was the only school to make an impact from Western Province. Meanwhile several outstation schools complained that they were disappointed with their accommodation arrangements. 'We have to check out from our school before 7 a.m. and have to carry our bags and mattresses back to the stadium.' The organizers should have made arrangements at least to find a place to leave our bag and baggage in the school premises' a school teacher told "The Island". Oliva Gamage Director Sports Ministry of Education and Sunil Wickremasinghe National Sales Manager Nestle Lanka Ltd. will grace the final as special invitees. New Meet Records: Javelin Throw U-16 Boys: Mohomed Sameer (St. Sebastian MV, Kandana) 55.90m. Triple Jump U-18 Boys: H. M. Gayan Sameera (Sinhala MV, Manampitiya) 14.61m. 3000m U-20 Girls: P. N. Somapala (Sumana BV, Ratnapura) 10:45.5 sec. 400m Hurdles U-20 Girls: T. Dissanayake (Seevali MMV, Ratnapura) 68.5 sec. High Jump U-16 Girls: B. M. N. Udayangani (Ibbagamuwa MMV) 1.50m. Pole Vault U-18 Boys: N. J. Jayakody (Henegama MMV) 3.60m. Discus Throw U-16 Girls: L. S. S. Weerasinghe (Ave Maria Convent, Negombo) 32.89m. High Jump U-16 Boys: Rifaz Ahamed (Zahira College, Gampala) 1.85m. 4x100m Relay U-18 Boys: Nalanda College) 44.3 sec. 800m U-18 Girls: N. B. N. G. Rajasekara (A. Ratnayake MMV, Wattala) 2:24.0 sec. 800m U-16 Girls: N. G. T. D. Wimalasena (A. Ratnayake MMV). 2:24.7. 4x100m U-18 Girls: Sujatha B. M. V. Matara. 51.2 sec. 800m U-18 Boys: Danushka Samarajeewa (Ananda College) 1:59.0 sec. 800m U-20 Girls: N. Mutunayaka (Holy Cross, Gampaha) 11.77m.
Kavinda Cooray in Squash finals by Dhammika Ratnaweera Cooray from Prince of Wales College Moratuwa used his experience to beat the 16 year old Thomian Navin Samarasinghe in straight sets (9-6, 9-0, 9-6). Kavinda Cooray will now meet top seed Hirantha Goonasena in the boys under 19 final which scheduled to be held on Saturday. Goonasena defeated fourth seed Eranga Amunugama in three straight sets (9-1, 9-3, 9-3) in their semi-final. A. Gunasekara (unseeded player) beat top seed Praveen Perera (9-2, 9-0, 9-2). Earlier Eranga Amunugama made a hard fought victory to enter the boys under 19 semi-finals edging out Ranindu Lankage in a nail biting game (9-3, 9-2, 9-7, 10-8). Meanwhile Kapila de Silva defeated Harin Perera in four setter (1-9, 9-7, 9-3, 9-0) to enter the boys under 15 semi-final. This tournament is sponsored by Trans Asia for the seventh consecutive year. The finals will be held on Saturday (24) at 4 p.m. Results: Girls Under 15 (semi-final): Menaka Hettiarachchi bt. Tehani Guruge (9-7, 9-5, 8-10, 10-8). Girls Under 19 (quarter-final): Rasansi Lankage bt Kathya de Silva (9-1, 9-1, 9-0). Boys Under 15 (quarter-final): Kavin Jayawardane bt. S. W. Ratnayake 9-0, 9-2, 9-0, Kyle Conrad bt. Dakshitha Gabriel 9-1, 9-1, 9-2, Kapila de Silva bt. Haril Perera 1-9, 9-7, 9-3, 9-0, Indika Cooray bt. Asitha de Silva 9-4, 9-2, 9-1. Boys Under 19 (quarter-final): Kavinda Cooray bt Eranga Kempitiya 9-2, 9-3, 9-3. Eranga Amunugama bt Ranindu Lankage 9-2, 2-9, 7-9, 9-2, 10-8. Boys Under 19 (semi-final): Nirantha Gunasena bt. Eranga Amunugama 9-1, 9-3, 9-3, Kavinda Cooray bt. Navin Samarasinghe 9-6, 9-0, 9-6. Boys Under 13 (semi-final): Pasan Sridaran bt. Harin Perera 9-5, 9-1 and S. Zahir bt. J. Jayaratne 9-0, 9-1, 9-2. Under 11 (semi-final): A. Gunawardane bt. Praveen Perera 9-2, 9-0, 9-2, J. Gunawardane bt. W. E. N. Alwis 3-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-0, 10-8. Inter school cricket by Dhammika Ratnaweera This will be the Royalists first inter school match for this season. Earlier they had scheduled to play against Richmond and Isipatana but both matches were postponed due to bad weather. Royalists led by all rounder Thusan Amarasuriya have a well balanced side and they have also a few good all rounders. Jehan Mubarak, fine stroke maker who scored thousand runs last season is one of the key players of the Royal side. Dharmapalians will play this game under pressure since they lost to Prince of Wales Moratuwa by five wickets in their previous game last week. Chamila Jayasinghe skipper of Dharmapala is a formidable all rounder for them. Jayasinghe brother of former Skipper Chintaka along with deputy skipper Thisara Senanayake are the other experienced players of the side. Meanwhile Thomians will meet Dharmaraja Kandy at Mount Lavinia while Kingswood team will travel up to Moratuwa to take on Prince of Wales College. Wesley College led by Dharshika Jayakody encounter Isipatana at Campbell Park while Sri Jayawardenapura MV will play their first match against St. Sebastian at Moratuwa. D. S. Senanayake College will travel to Kandy to play St. Anthony's, Katugastota. Ananda College led by Jitendra Perera will meet St. Annes College Kurunegala for their first match at Rajapakse Stadium Ananda Mawatha on October 24-25. We salute our sportsmen and women When I read 3 articles written by, George Mendis, Lalith Nanayakkara and Shirajiv Sirimane, in the Island newspaper on September 30 and October 31. I thought it is time for people like us (who loves sport) to say what we feel 2about the recent episodes in sports and its victims. We hope that what happened to Susanthika will not happen to the rest of our athletes, shooters and cricketers. I totally agree with Lalith and Shirajiv as we have no right to ever criticise our sportsmen and women because, we have not given our best to them. We only talk but when you really have to do it on the ground it is not easy at all. It is not an easy thing to even become a National Champion in Sri Lanka in any sport today. May be the writers of the articles, Mr. George and Nanayakkara are our past National Champions. I must admit, though I tried so hard to become a National Champion in four different sports, I could not become a national champion even in one. Though I am knowledgeable and educated and though I could write articles. I have no authority to criticise our National Champions because I know that they are really good and better than me. Specially the National Champions of today as their standards are so high. We must feel ashamed of ourselves as a Nation, for criticising the athletes, cricketers and shooters for not bringing home gold medals. We should criticise them if they do wrong things or did not behave as true ambassadors of our Nation. How could any of us ask for medals from them when we have not given the best to them? Duncan White, Rosa, Wimaladasa, Sunil Gunawardene, Premachandra, K. G. Badra Ediriweerasingham, M. J. M. Lafir, Nadarajasingham, D. K. Podimahaththaya, Selvagowri and Arjuna Fernando some of our past sportsmen and women, never had even 5% of the facilities what the other world sportsmen had during that time. With the little they had, still they brought honour to Sri Lanka. The present sportsmen and women now have better facilities than before but, it seems that some of them, specially the shooters are not given the best and the public and the sports administrators have forgotten that the shooters are the first to bring gold to us after 44 long years at Commonwealth Games. I do not know much about shooting, because I am scared to even hold a gun and therefore I admire the Rajasinghe brothers, Ramanayake, Wickramasinghe and Chandrasiri for holding that rifle and shooting dead on. It is a pity that when the shooters brought Gold medals for Sri Lanka, that they were not felicitated but now the sports administrators are trying to give land and already given money to our sportsmen and women who won only silver, bronze and a fourth place. Is the silver, bronze and fourth place better than gold? It cannot be, but could be that it is a way for the present sports administrators to cover up the poor performance of our team this time. I wonder why the same sports administration did not have any felicitation ceremonies or did not give any land or did not even give any money to the Gold and silver medal winners. Last Commonwealth Games, we won one Gold and two silver medals and a forth place. This time we had only one Silver Medal, one Bronze medal and two forth places. (Of course, the sports administrators have deliberately forgotten the forth place gained by our cricketers because, they did not field the best team). We have a very energetic Sports Minister who in fact not only the Minister of Sports, but does the job of the NOC and most of the sports association. In the past, it was the NOC that administered all the sports and now it is sad to note that, the NOC has now become only a post office and only a name sake. The NOC has not done much this year after coming to office though so many have criticised the office bearers of the past NOC. Now we feel that, at least the past NOC did a better professional sports administration than the present NOC. Returning back to our energetic Sports Minister (it is correct to say that, he is the best Sports Minister the country had until now) though he is trying to do a lot to the sport, so far with all the good things he did, he has not done the right things. This leads to not having good sports advisors behind him to advice him of the correct things to be done. With all good things he has blundered and as such he could not give his best to our sportsmen and sportswomen. Among many two simple examples are, he did a great thing by felicitating the gold medal winners of the 1974 Asian Games but failed to felicitate the 1994 Commonwealth Gold medal winners who won medals during his period of office and secondly, he again did a good thing by felicitating Dharsha who won the forth place but forgot to felicitate the Cricket Team who also won the Forth place at the same Games. Minister, what is the difference between the 1974 Gold Medal and 1994 Gold Medal and the difference between the fourth place in athletics and cricket at the same games? Or is it that, the sports administrators do not like the cricketers and the shooters? If the Ministry of Sports has blundered, then either the Minister has to change his present advisors or get proper advice from a genuine sportsman, before the Ministry acts. We can not loose our present great sportsmen and women, because if they are not treated equally, then they will get discouraged and will not get up and fight again. Though the shooters were neglected, we must value the words of our shooting Coach Daya Rajasinghe, as he has said that, they do not shoot for money but, they will rise again and fight to get a medal for Sri Lanka at 2000 Olympics. Well, Soldier, that is the spirit, keep it up, we need more brave and dedicated men like you and we are sure that we will be a great nation. Part of my story is our Susanthika and Mahanama who have been our main actors during the past few months. Well, our brave girl Susanthika, the Country has lost an Athlete of your calibre, but you never had the proper brains and the patience to do things correctly. You got mislead by people who made it a political issue for their own benefit and not to your benefit. They only washed dirty linen in the open and ruined your character and made you suffer. You always thought that, the immediate athletic Officials were your enemies but you were wrong,, the people who controlled you were your enemies because, they never controlled you properly and never guided you in the correct path. Money and luxuries are not every thing, those have no values, but if you know how to treat your Coach, then they are true values. If you ever want to come back and win a medal for Sri Lanka at Olympics, we will be behind you, but do not make the same mistakes you did in the past. Our advice is you should go back to your Coach Derwin, he is a great Coach. The whole nation cried for Mahanama's ommission from the cricket team to England. We blamed the Cricket Board and others. Now that he is included, I suppose every one will praise the Cricket Board and Arjuna Ranatunge. We have forgotten that we are world champions and that was achieved by our cricketers and the manipulators behind it, was the Cricket Board. You and I never got involved in the election of the winning World Cup team. So, why do we have to get involved in it now. Didn't we win the One day and the Test in England even without Mahanama? Let us not get involved in the selection as the Cricket Board has enough professional people to do that. Of course, I cannot agree if some one tells me that the technique of Roshan Mahanama is not good enough. For the simple reason, when Sri Lanka broke the world record for the best partnership for any wicket in test cricket, Roshan partnered and anchored Sanath during that long partnership with a double hundred. Well, the world had so many great cricketers, but none of them could match Roshan and Sanath. How can it be possible that Roshan scored a double hundred and partnered a world record and his technique is still not good? We leave the selection to the Cricket Board. As professionals, be firm and fair but, please do not give us silly answers! Instead stand by your decisions. Our contribution for the sports is to support our sportsmen and women and encourage them whether they win or loose. After all, our cricketers are the world champions and because they loose one series or they lose the next World Cup, that does not mean, we should blame them, criticise them and humiliate them and let them down. They are world champions in 1995 and that cannot be erased from our sports history. In the same way, our shooters are our Commonwealth Gold medal winners (Mali Wickramasinghe and Pushpamali Ramanayake are the only living Commonwealth, Gold Medal winners in our country) and because they did not win this time, or even if they do not win next time, that does not mean, we should blame them, criticise them and humiliate them and let them down. These two are our gold medalists and that cannot ever be erased from our history of sports. The first women to win a Commonwealth Gold. We must encourage these two sports, we must go to them, find out what they require and try and give them the best, because they have already proved to our nation like athletics, that they could do it. Our humble request to the Minister of Sports is that, treat all sports alike, and give priorities to these three sports (athletics, shooting and cricket) and get them to perform at their best. That does not mean that we neglect other sports, we have to get them too, to work like the athletes, shooters and cricketers. These three sports have reached great heights in Sri Lanka today than other sports, not because these three are the easiest sports that we could win, it is because the coaches and administrators behind these three sports are more devoted and are doing the correct things. Our sports controlling bodies, National Olympic Council and the National Sports Council should go to the sportsmen and sportswomen and find out their requirements and take the required action and if they can not do it then they should go to the minister for action. They have to go to the controlling bodies, the national coaches and then to the sportsmen and women and find out what is required, what to be done? Controlling Bodies, please speak up, has the NOC and the Sports Council have ever visited you all? NOC and the National Sports Council are only involved in selecting sportsmen and women for games, NOC, if you do not give them the best then, you won't get the best. If so, the Sports Ministry, the NOC the National Sports Council and the sports loving people like us have no right to ask our athletes 'why you did not bring any gold medals? Baratha Narampanawa. |
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