Spending the evening of his life in Menikhinna, a fairly remote Kandyan village, is a once tall and sturdy tennis player F.C.B. Marapana. His tennis career spanned thirty years: from 1947 to 1977, and at one time he was one of the country’s leading players. FCB was one of the few outstation players to be [...]

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Marapana won the Kandy GC Open for seven years

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Spending the evening of his life in Menikhinna, a fairly remote Kandyan village, is a once tall and sturdy tennis player F.C.B. Marapana. His tennis career spanned thirty years: from 1947 to 1977, and at one time he was one of the country’s leading players. FCB was one of the few outstation players to be seeded by the SLTA.

In his prime, he took part in most of the ranking tournaments conducted by the SLTA, and annexed trophies in Colombo, Galle, Ratnapura, Badulla and Kurunegala. A highlight of his career was winning the open singles events at the Kandy Garden Club Tournament for seven successive years.

He was also a regular at the All Island Inter Club Tournaments, turning out for the Garden Club.

When he finally called it a day, his trophy cabinet was overflowing. The selfless man that he is, he decided to give all his silverware away.
Accordingly, two large Challenge Cups were given to the Garden club. The rest were given away to schools in the area- the beneficiaries being Ratnayake Central Walala, Wimalaratne Kumaragama MV Naranpanawe, Menikhinna MV and Dharmaloka MV Dambarawa. The donations took place sans fanfare and ceremony.

He had played some club cricket and captained a club’s football team, too. Among his tennis playing contemporaries were Professors DE Hettiarachchi, MB Ariyapala, HA Passe, J. Varagunam of the University and Chandra Wijenaike, the founder of Central Finance. FCB adds that the above (all gone beyond) were gentlemen to their finger-tips. -AK




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