Carrom boss resigns
Prasad Amarasinghe
It is understood that Prasad Samarasinghe, the incumbent President of the Sri Lanka Carrom Federation had tendered his letter of resignation to be effected from the end of November 2016.
Samarasinghe was elected uncontested at the last Annual General Meeting of the Federation and his two year tenure is to be completed on March 31st 2017.
Sunday Times contacted President Samarasinghe and he informed that he submitted his letter of resignation to the Minister through the Director General of Sports as well as to the Secretary of the Carrom Federation. He went on to say that due to pressure of work he took this decision and at the last AGM when he was elected unanimously Samarasinghe had informed the general membership that he will serve the federation in the capacity of the President only for two years and due to the heavy burden of work with his employment he was compelled to take this decision.
When contacted the Secretary of the Carrom Federation Thumula Naotunna, who is out of the island at the moment said that the President submitted his letter of resignation dated November 22 which was he received after five or six days and he came to understand that the said letter had submitted to the Ministry of Sports. Naotunna said that when he received the news of the President he spoke to him and requested to defer his decision as the World Cup Carrom championship was on the corner.
The Secretary had called a meeting of the committee on December 8 and only five members were present and to proceed the meeting there should be at least nine members. On January 9 another meeting of the committee the secretary forwarded the Letter of Resignation of the President to the general committee and the committee decided to select a new President on the next Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on March 10. He also said it will be difficult to fill the void of an energetic President in the calibre of Samarasinghe who spent a lot of time to the welfare of the game and the players.
Carrom, one of the sports that Sri Lanka can boast as World Champions is a discipline with a huge popularity and it is hoped that the new president and the general committee to be elected at the next AGM to continue the good work of the past office-bearers.