The RTC ‘dynamics’, who will gallop for 2022 season
Royal Turf Club (RTC) will once again come under the reign of Panduka Keerthinanda, a renowned Attorney-at-Law, specialised in sports law and an expert in the sector of sports law. Supporting him, ably, are newly appointed secretary Ryota Hakariya and Nisitha Rupasinghe, who continues as the treasurer.
The newly appointed committee includes Ranjan Paranavithana, Refhan Razeen and Sudarshana Deshapriya, while Cyrus J. Madan continues his duties as the Chairman of Board of Stewards. Sinclair Marshall rejoins as the Senior Stipendiary Steward to assist his superior, Madan, and help RTC conduct a smooth horse season in 2022.
Keerthinanda, the sixth president of RTC, is an integral member of Sri Lanka’s only active club to manage horse racing. He joined RTC from the very inception and served as the legal advisor, helping the club maintain its reputation of providing extravagant horse racing events.
Keerthinanda is very well known in Sri Lanka for his contribution to sports, as a legal consultant to the Ministry of Sports. He has been associated with the Ministry of Sports since 2011, and was a member of several committees under different ministers. He was instrumental in drafting and implementing the National Sports Policy in 2012, Convention against Doping in Sports, Convention against Match Fixing and made the initial draft of the Amended Sports Law to upgrade the Sports Act of 1973.
He was also instrumental in drafting the Anti Corruption Law in Sports, which made Sri Lanka as the first country in Asia to legalise corruption in sports as a punishable offense. He was one of the few in the horse racing fraternity to promote anti doping tests at horse racing events, a practice RTC has been doing since its inception.
His secretary, Ryota Hakariya is an expatriate from Japan, who has been actively involved with RTC during the recent couple of years. An ardent horse racing enthusiast and an active individual with an ethical work practice, Hakariya played an active role in conducting events in Nuwara Eliya during the past couple of seasons as a committee member of RTC. For his enduring enthusiasm in taking horse racing to its highest level, Hakariya has been bestowed with the position of honorary secretary of RTC.
Treasurer Nisitha Rupasinghe has played an active for RTC since its inception. Well reputed for his prolific cricket career, Rupasinghe almost represented the Sri Lanka national cricket team, having turned out for Sri Lanka Under-19, Sri Lanka ‘A’ and at domestic level for Kandurata and Colombo Cricket Club. He later moved to the United Kingdom and became a leading professional player there, with stints at Fleetwood CC, North Lancashire and the Northern Premier League. While in the UK he developed a penchant for horse racing and by now Rupasinghe has transformed himself to be a useful contributor to RTC and Sri Lankan horse racing.
In addition Cyrus J. Madan and Sinclair Marshall will be the two most important individuals who will be actively involved at horse racing events in Nuwara Eliya in 2022, and their expertise will come handy for RTC.
Madan, who has been involved with RTC from the beginning as a race official at different capacities, rose to the ranks of Chairman of Board of Stewards, mainly for his professional work conduct. An active personality in horse racing since the early 1980s, Madan was the chairman of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club for five years from 2007, and returned in 2017 as a board member. He is also the chairman of the Indian Pattern Committee of Turf Authorities of India since 2010. He is also well renowned as a commentator and television presenter in the field of horse racing in India and Sri Lanka.
Sinclair Marshall, a legendary Indian jockey, has been an active contributor to RTC from the very beginning. He joined RTC as its acting CEO, a stipendiary steward and a thoroughbred riding instructor in addition to being the jockey coach, a new role in Sri Lanka then.
In his long illustrious career, Marshall has ridden 983 winners in India, Macau and England, and 38 Indian Classic winners, to go with eight Derby winners. He also served as the President of Jockey’s Association of India for 26 years where he was responsible for the welfare of 400 members of the association, providing professional representation at racing enquiries and appeal hearings at all racing centres throughout the country. He also assisted India’s leading horse trainers, on riding track work and supervising all aspects of stable management, before joining RTC.
“it’s a very good team that we have got to serve RTC this time around. We must also thank those who were part of RTC, as well as our sponsors, who had been with us right throughout to maintain the quality of this lovely sport of horse racing. We have had inquiries from many, including enthusiasts, horse owners and potential sponsors, who are willing to support us during the coming season. It’s very inspiring,” Nisitha Rupasinghe stated.