Contents

• A rewarding year at RCGC
• Ruining school cricket
• Crowning Star bag Mayor's Cup
• Talduwa Rally on May 12
• Rover pinpoints....
• Two titles for Mahesha and Amita
• Golf puts Lanka into a top position
• Right Royal cricket gesture

Dian Jayasuriya, Lalin Samarawickrema, Lalith Ramanayake and Kumar Boralessa made up a formidable quartet and their stewardship through the year just past has been recorded as highly commendable.

Refurbishing the Club House with massive restructuring combined with a redesigned and re-turfed course gives cause to say 'Thank You' for a magnificent job superbly concluded despite unfair and uncharitable criticism from a few untidy members.
123rd A.G.M.

The Royal Colombo Golf Club was packed to capacity when the membership met to elect office bearers and Committee for the year 2002-2003. A fierce contest drew the crowd. Chelliah Thurairajah, the popular golfing personality was invited to take the President's chair and he was received with a thunderous round of applause.

A distinguished sportsman, he has played Rugger, Basketball and Golf with distinction and he richly deserved the warm reception. Lalith Ramanayake who excelled as Vice Captain was elevated to Captain with unanimous approval.

Contest
I thought that the contest for Vice Captain could have been avoided. In my 42-year membership of the Royal Colombo Golf Club I do not recall a contest of any magnitude. It's an accepted tradition that one does not challenge the establishment unless the circumstances are eceptional. Thialingam Nirmalingam, a skilful golfer, a stunning cricketer, an accomplished administrator with a background of serving the Committee and also completing an assignment as Hony.

Course Secretary contested Sarath Piyaratne, a competent golfer, a man's man-packed with personality and the Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Bank. Piyaratne is a good catch. He is a smart administrator and a strict disciplinarian and I am confident that he will bring much credit to the progress of golf in Sri Lanka. His charming wife Vinita of Indian origin will always stay firmly as the strong wind under his wings. Ken Sellayah will look after the Bar & Restaurant and Tissa Jayasinghe will look after the turf.

Dry Zone Golfers
Fearful of water, aquaphobic Mahes Rodrigo fields a small collection of golfers with comparable fears moving through an area on the Ridgeways that is far stretched away from puddles, ponds and streams. This area is called the Dry Zone and so far Mahes has won the title on 2 consecutive occasions.

Their preserve envelopes the 14th hole, followed by the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th after which they shift to the 9th and 10th making it a 7 hole Dry Zone tournament. Their events have been sponsored by the popular restaurants Green Cabin & Pagoda and lunch is thrown in after each tournament. Carpet driving is prevalent.

Right Royal cricket gesture
Aggreko donates Rs. 500,0000
Aggreko International Power Projects, a world leader in providing short to medium power energy has decided to give much strength for the promotion of junior cricket at Royal College. Ajitha Pasqual, a versatile sportsman who hails from the Reid Avenue School told The Sunday Times, it was a fine gesture by Aggreko to donate Rs. 500,0000 for the promotion and development of cricket at Royal at grassroots level.
Pasqual, who is in the Royal College cricket committee said this financial support will go a long way to uplift the game.

Royal has made a name in cricket in the past whilst producing some outstanding players at the national level. But in recent times the standards have dropped. They have a dedicated committee who are keen to uplift the game at junior.

This will be achieved before long. The foundation has been laid. Aggreko has given that much needed power and energy to work on. The cheque was presented to the Principal of Royal, Mr. Lakshman Gomes by Derek Shepherd, Executive Director, Aggreko and Suresh Subramaniam, Principal Agent, in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Gomes commended the donors for their generosity and the contribution to Sri Lanka in her hour of need through emergency power generation and wished the firm success in all future endeavours.

Incidentally Subramaniam, an old Royalist and the present President of the SLTA, has contributed much for the development of tennis at Royal. He has been the coach of Royal tennis for a long time and has helped the school to dominate tennis in the schools circuit. B.W.

Two titles for Mahesha and Amita
Yaveen Jayasekera had to pull out all the tricks out of the bag to overcome Sasith Wickramasinghe in the boy's Under 18 final at the Robbialac Junior Master's Tennis Championships.

Yaveen had earlier lost to Sasitha in the Under 16 final but put up a spirited play to clinch the senior title. The feature of the championships was the two titles won by inform Mahesha Seneviratne. She bagged the Under 16 and Under 18 titles defeating the same opponent. Amita Arudpragasm was the other girl to impress at the championships when she won the Under 12 and Under 14 titles.

Results of the finals:
Boy's Under 12- T.Dineshkanthan beat Indika Wettasinghe 6/0, 6/0.
Boy's Under 14- Sasivarnan Sabanathan beat Anuk Arudpragasm 6/2, 6/2.
Boy's Under 16 - Sasith Wickramasinghe beat Yaveen Jayasekera 7/6, 2/6, 6/2.
Boy's Under 18 - Yaveen Jayasekera beat Sasith Wickramasinghe 3/6, 6/4, 6/2.
Girl's Under 10 - Amritha Mathiya beat Chand Megha 9/2, 6/2. Girl's Under 12- Amita Arudpragasam beat Hsani Jayatileke 6/4, 6/2.
Girl's Under 14 - Amita Arudpragasm beat Thiyumi Abeysinghe 6/4, 6/4.
Girl's Under 16 - Mahesha Seneviratne beat Jancy Paramanathan 6/2, 6/0.
Girl's Under 18 - Mahesha Seneviratne beta Jancy Paramanathan 6/4, 6/4.
-MSA

Golf puts Lanka into a top position
By Annesley Ferreira
Aruna Rohana won the Pakistan Championships with Lalith Kumara runner-up in the championships concluded last week. Sri Lanka proved its worth by winning both team events. Earlier Rohana won the Bangladesh Amateur Championships in January.
Meanwhile Caddie Tissa Chandradasa is now ranked the number one amateur golfer in the U.A.E.

Promising junior Amrith De Soysa will represent Sri Lanka at the British Junior Championships in July in Scotland. SriLanka will be a force to be reckoned with at the Asian Games.

Sri Lankan Airlines has agreed to sponsor junior golf by giving six tickets. Meanwhile, Pepsi has also joined in the sponsorship for the Junior Grand Prix for one year. Sri Lanka has been invited to send two professional golfers to the Qatar Open next month. Aruna Rohana and Lalith Kumara, both caddies will play in the Malaysian Amateur Championships next month.

Ruining school cricket
Tournaments conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association and other organizations ruin school cricket in the island. Masters-In-Charge, Coaches and the players and also the school authorities resort to all sorts of tactics to win matches.

That's because winning matches means gaining publicity for the schools, confirming the job of the Coach and sometimes promotions to even the Principal of the College who had done nothing to help Cricket.

Orthodox Cricket is not played and the Umpires are unduly pressurized. A fine example is the Lemonade trophy match between S. Thomas' College and St. Sebastians College. Some persons had organized some hooligans to come and disturb the players and harass the Umpires, as they knew that, that was the only way to win this match against S. Thomas' College Mount Lavinia. But with all those ugly incidents the match was won by S. Thomas' College.

Colleges resort to have overage players in their teams. SLSCA detected an overage boy playing for Kalutara Vidyalaya in the Under-19 Tournament. Then there is another case where a match had been bought. There the two coaches of the two Colleges were close relatives. Cricket authorities have found that some Colleges have been sending bogus score sheets.

Fortunately most of the leading Cricket playing schools who excell in Cricket do not stoop to such low levels at the moment. Therefore to improve the standard of Cricket and maintain healthy rivalry among the schools we appeal to the leading school authorities not to participate in these useless tournaments and associations organizing these tournaments also should cease to do so in the future.

Crowning Star bag Mayor's Cup
Crowning Star owned by Gamini Jayaratne and ridden by G.Dickie rode a peach of a race to bag the Mayors Cup at the Nuwara Eliya Race Course last weekend. The meet was successfuly conducted by the Sri Lanka Turf Club where seven races were worked out for the day.

Following are the results;
1. 'Fatten Cup' for 3/4 bred horses-5 furlongs (handicap)-1. Satin Streak owned by Nigel Austin ridden by Ashok Kumar. 2. 'Nefertiti- Wasantha Jayasuriya- Nandakumar. 3. 'Tamana'- S.Wijeratne- L.Ravikumar.

2.'Ibn Orient Cup' for 1/2 bred horses in class 1-5 furlongs (handicap)-1.'Gyselle'- Devinda Senanyake- Ravikumar. 2. 'Bold Venture'- Nigel Austin- Nandakumar. 3. 'Nangi Girl- Nigel Austin- Ashok Kumar.

3. 'Taimour Cup' for 1/2 bred horses in class II-7 furlongs (handicap) 1. 'Showgun'- Miss. Sues Chaiz- K.Ganesh. 2. 'Titanic'- S.Selvaratnam- S.Selvaratnam. 3. 'Be My Friend'- AR. Suranga Jayaratne-R.Balachandran.

4. 'Union Assurance Cup' for Thoroughbred horses in class IV 5 furlongs (handicap) 1. 'Korean Dancer'- Saveen Abeyratne- Aadesh Kumar. 2. 'Nuclear Power'- Gamini Jayaratne- G..Dickie. 3. 'Polished Performer'- Kumar Abeywardena and Monaro- S.Selvaratnam.

5. 'Grand Hotel Cup' for Thoroughbred horses in class II 7 furlongs-1. 'Flaming Spear'-Miss. Nausheen Noohu- Sudhakar. 2. 'Orange King'- Mrs. Malani Abetratne-V.Gharat. 3. 'Perfect Placement'- Miss. Sonali Abeyratne-Aadesh Kumar.

6. 'Mayors Cup' for Thoroughbred horses in class I-5 furlongs (handicap)-1. 'Crowning Star'- Gamini Jayaratne- G.Dickie. 2. 'Turn to Gold'- Ashif Noohu- V.Gharat. 3. 'Court of Appeal'- Anurath Abeyratne- V.Mathialagan.

7. 'Nestle Cup' for Thoroughbred horses in class III-7 furlongs-1. 'Helen of Troy'- Hasanga Jayaratne-Nandakumar. 2. 'Battle Call'-Miss. Rohini de Mel and Monaro-V.Punitharaj-MSA

Talduwa Rally on May 12
By M.Shamil Amit
The Annual Talduwa Rally Cross will be held on May 12 2002 at the Talduwa Circuit in Avissawella. This event is organised by the Headquarters Logistic Command in association with the Sri Lanka Army Sports Committee (SLAMSC) and Motor Racing Association with Kelani Valley Club joining hands to make this event a success.

All proceeds from this event will be utilised for the soldiers and their families of the Ranavirugama in Salawa, Kosgama. Last year the profits were made use of to build a library and this year it will be utilised to develop the necessities of the Ranavirugama Camp. The track which is of a length of 1.4 km differs from the other tracks where motor crosss are held. The track is of three kinds of terrain grass, gravel and asphatted surface. The Talduwa track is very competitive with the competitors having to race in all three terrains in covering the 1.4 kms.

There will be three new events this year for Mini Cars upto 1000cc, Ford Laser aand Nissan March upto 1300cc which brings the meet up to international standards. The Rally cross is open for Motor Cars (2 wheel and 4 wheel drive) and Motor Cycles. Twenty five events will be worked off and practices will be held on May 11 with the idea of conducting the events on schedule the next day. Entries close on April 30 2002 and entry forms are available at the Pro Kart Centre, Millenium Park in Darley Road Colombo.

The organisers are expecting a large crowd and plans are afoot to arrange transport facilities to racing fans coming from Colombo and other areas. The Rally Cross will start at 8.00. a.m. The list of events scheduled to be conducted.

Motor Cycles- Group P- 1. Kids Street Trail upto 80cc. 2. Novices Street Trail upto 125cc. 3. Motor Cycles Street Trail upto 125cc. 4. Motor Cycles Street Trail upto 250cc. 5. Motor Cycles Street Trail Open (Unlimited). 6. Motor Cycles Street Trail- Four Stroke (Unlimited). 7. Motor Cycles Racing upto 80cc. 8. Motor Cycles Racing upto 125cc. 9. Motor Cycles Racing Open (Unlimited).

Motor Cars-Unmodified/Normally Aspirated Engines- 10. Motor Cars Mini upto 1050cc. 11. Motor Cars Ford Laser/Mazda upto 1500cc. 12. Motor Cars Nissan March upto 1300cc. 13. Motor Cars over 14.0 kg/hp. 14. Motor Cars over 12.0 kg/hp upto 14.0 kg/hp. 15. Motor Cars 10.0 kg/hp upto 12.0 kg/hp. 16. Motor Cars over 8.0 kg/hp upto 10.0 kg/hp. 17. Motor Cars over 6.0 kg/hp upto 8.0 kg/hp. 18. Motor Cars upto 1500cc (Forces only).

Motor Cars Modified Cars. 19. Motor Cars upto 1050cc. 20. Motor Cars over 1050cc and upto 1350cc. 21. Motor Cars over 1350cc upto 1665cc. 22. Motor Cars over 1665cc. Jeeps-4 Wheel Drive- 23. Jeeps JI-Jeeps Single/Double Cabs-Diesel Non Turbo. 24. J2-Jeeps Single/Double Cabs-Patrol and Diesel Turbo. 25. J3- Jeeps Single/Double Cabs-(Armed Forces only)

Good move
A very good move at last. Rover learns that some senior officers of the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association are up in arms over the amendments moved to the constitution at the last AGM held at Ananda College, that no official will be allowed to hold office for more than two years. Many school principals and masters-in- charge are in agreement with the new amendments.

Then and now
Senior officials of a popular sport squad is now heard taking a different attitude to their performances. The latest being that there is nothing to talk about the victory of the Gold Medal of a Under-15 girl player since she defeated the Japanese on the way to winning the Gold since her opponent was new to the sport. But how come this same official made a big fuss when this junior player was the only one to defeat the Japanese at the last Championship where she went as manager?.

Bad sportsmanship
A mother of a juvenile player in squash has been prevented from obtaining her visa to Malaysia where the Asian championship is to be played. How come?

Clarification
The Cricket Board writes with regards to an article carried under the headline 'Ten in a family, not too many' that the cost of their travel and accommodation for six to Sharjah was borne in full by the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), the organisers of the tournament.

The Cricket Board also states that the wife of one official and the family of another was also present .... all at the cost and invitation of the CBFS,
Rover only posed the question as to who funded the trip and also wished to find out as to who this other official was of the Board who is not an Interim Committee member.