Father like siblings
A son following in his father’s footsteps is quite a common occurrence. A son and daughter doing it is a bit rarer. But when both offspring outdo the parent and achieve national recognition in their chosen sport; that calls for sport fans to sit up and take notice.
The sportsman who is at the centre of all this acclaim is the lanky C.S. Ekanayake who, although missing out on a Sri Lanka tie, was a household name in rugby circles in the eighties and early nineties.
CS, as he prefers to call himself, was a lock forward, flanker and number eight, during the time he turned out for Kandy Sports Club from 1983 to 1991. A former rugby captain of Dharmaraja in 1982, he also led Kandy SC in 1988. A wholehearted player, who threw himself into the fray with gusto and daring, he was in the Sri Lanka post in 1987/88 and played for the President’s XV against a couple of foreign sides in the late eighties.
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| A perfect sporting family: Father CS (left), daughter Kaveesha (middle) and son Lochana (right). | ||
A recipient of the Dagoba (Dharmaraja’s highest honour and the equivalent of the Lion at Trinity), CS achieved that honour in Rugby as well as in soccer. Being long-legged, the high jump and hurdles events also came naturally to him.
He coached his alma mater in two spells amounting to eight years. His expertise was given a new dimension as a result of his participation in coaching courses in Scotland in 1994 and 2009. CS also attended Level 2 coaching course in Wales in 1996. No stranger to administration, he managed the upcountry rugby team on the tour of India in 1999. Son, Lochana, did not satisfy himself by resting on his father’s laurels. Instead he carved out a path of his own. He dabbled in soccer, weightlifting and badminton, and played Under-17 and even Under-19 cricket. But his heart was always in the sport which CS distinguished himself in.
A rugged number eight, Lochana was the vice captain of the Rajan team that won the Inter-Schools Rugby Sevens in 2012. Two years earlier, he represented the country at the Youth Asiad Rugby Championship in Bangkok. Turning out for the Sri Lanka Under-18 side at the Commonwealth Youth Games at Isle of Man in 2011 was grist to his mill. The Sri Lanka team won the Bowl Championship at both these games.
Daughter Kaveesha, who has not tuned eighteen as yet, did fair to outstrip both parent and sibling. She has excelled in badminton, athletics and basketball but has reserved her best and proceeded furthest in netball.
The netball team she represented were champions from 2006 to 2012. A product of Girls’ High School Kandy, Kaveesha played for the Sri Lanka Under-19 team at the Waverley International Netball Tournament in Australia. The Sri Lanka lasses ended up as Group Champions. This was the best performance by a Sri Lankan team during the past 17 years.
More recently, Kaveesha was part of the Sri Lanka Under-21 team that participated in the 8th Asian Youth Netball Championship in Brunei.
Papa CS may have shot his bolt, but son Lochana and daughter Kaveesha give every indication that they will outstrip their father and win further laurels in foreign fields.
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