Main reason for the downfall of sports in Sri Lanka is lack of competition
Sopahia Dharmasena
“The lack of competitions is the main downfall of Sri Lanka sports,” this is what Sopahia Dharmasena, nee Marasinghe has to say about the downward trend that exists in Sri Lanka sports today.
Sopahia was a star in five sports during the 70’s. Her sports: netball, volleyball, athletics, badminton and football. She is a double national having represented Sri Lanka at netball and volleyball.
When the first Netball World Cup took place in England in 1963, she represented Sri Lanka at the inaugural competition under skipper Dasmi De Costa.
She is an old girl of Minuwangoda Central. Later she migrated to Toronto, Canada in 1990 and returned to Sri Lanka only in January this year. Currently she is residing in Rajagiriya with her two sons – Suranjith Dharmasena and Kishan Dharmasena.
Both these lads turned out for Thurstan College in cricket when Muttiah Muralitharan was playing for St. Anthony’s College Katugastota.Suranjith had captained Thurstan in 1984 and Kishan Dharmasena is currently turning out for the UAE team. Her husband has passed away.
In 2013 Sopahia was given a special award by the Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation for the services rendered by her.
“There was a lot of competitions those days at club, school, invitation tournaments, district level contests etc. There was unity in sports those days. Nowadays it is difficult to stage even the nationals on a regular basis.
“Those days it was easy to spot talented players. Now players are selected for trials and the team is selected. It is difficult to spot talented players at this rate.
To select the best players there should be unity between the players, coaches and officials.
“According to what I hear, there are a lot of problems. Unless these things are settled, we cannot hope to produce top notch teams.
“The reason for this set back is that everybody is trying to jump the gun in order to gain whatever is possible. No thought is given to the sport concerned.
This type of situation never existed during our times. We worked with perfect harmony and understanding and we were able to achieve our goals.
“I never saw this type of situation during my 26 years of stay in Canada. The Canadians always put their country first. There was no rivalry amongst them in day-to-day living. There exist problems in almost every sport in Sri Lanka. We cannot hope to win under such situations,” she said.
To a question whether she is willing to accept any position in sports now, she said:
“Definitely not! I was not living in Sri Lanka for a long period. Let those who are at the helms of these sports carry on,” she concluded.
Following are her achievements:
Sopahia Dharmasena was employed as a clerk in two leading Mercantile firms (viz. M/S. Ceylon Dia Shirts Co. Ltd. and Brown & Co. Ltd.) for eight years and joined the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation as an Accounts Clerk and promoted as the Supervisor of the Payment Section, Finance Division. She worked at Fisheries Corporation for fourteen (14 years) and the last two years of her services were rendered as an Accountant before she left on the premature retirement scheme in December 1980.
She was attached to the staff of the Colombo International School as a Sports Teacher since January 1984.
Netball: Captained the College Netball team – Government Central College, Minuwangoda. All Island Champions (Inter-School) and winners of the Western Province Championship for five years consecutively.
Represented the Netball Association of Sri Lanka against the Crusaders in 1958 and 1959. Captained the respective teams of Ceylon Dia Shirts Co. and Brown & Co. Ltd. In Mercantile Netball ” A” Division won the knock-out and league championship in 1960, 1961 and 1964 respectively.
She was elected as the President of the Netball Section of the Nationalised Services Sports Association in 1973.
Represented the Sri Lanka Netball team for the first ever World Tournament held in England in 1963 and was victorious against Northern Ireland and Wales. She was a member of the Sri Lanka team that played against the All Australian Team in 1963.
Has visited England, Spain Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, France and India as a member of the Sri Lanka team in 1963.
Captained and coached Ceylon Fisheries Corp team in the Nationalised Services Tournament and won the “B” Division Championship in 1970 and “A” Division in 1971.
Captained Sri Lanka team against the visiting Singapore Team in 1970.
Captained the Sri Lanka team against the Seychelles in all three Test matches and maintained the unbeaten record in 1975.
She was appointed by the Ministry of Sports and continued to serve the Board of Control for Netball as an active Committee Member.
She has conducted seminars for Umpires in Galle, Gampaha, Badulla and in Colombo.
Volleyball: Captained the Sri Lanka women’s Volleyball Team against visiting Kerala State in 1973.
She was a member of the team that toured India and played against All India Volley Ball Team, winning all four on the five Test Matches played.
Badminton: Won the Triple Crown at the inaugural open Badminton tournament organised by the Nationalised Services Association in 1977.
Underwent a Training programme for coaches conducted by the Badminton Association of Sri Lanka in 1985.
Basketball: Member of the Ramblers Sports Club Basketball team which won the Saravanamuthu Trophy in the Inter-Club Tournament in 1971 and 1972. Western Province Champions.
Athletics: Was adjudged the Champion Athlete (Women’s) in the 7th Annual Novices and Championship Meet of the Nationalized Services Athletic Meet in 1972.
Football: Champions in the 1st ever ladies Garuda Sports Club tournament in 1975.