Sports

Sports

Horse racing on the beach?
Sri Lanka is famous globally for its lovely golden beaches. And to cap it all there will be horse racing conducted at the Beruwela beach on May 3. The hosts will be the Confifi Group of Hotels together with the newly formed Sri Lanka Equestrian Association and keenly supported by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

Equestrian being an Olympic sport, is undertaking a giant stride towards promoting and developing this sport upto international standards. This is why the Sri Lanka Equestrian Association was formed, and to begin with they will conduct these races on the stretch of the golden mile.

This 'Confifi Derby' will be held on the beach stretch of Riverina & Club Palm Garden Hotels in Beruwela, an attractive destination for tourists to Sri Lanka. Entries close on April 26 and there will be seven events lined up on May 3.

Paddy Vithana, Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourist Board said that these sports events are important for tourists. He also hoped that the tourists will patronise these sport and adventure events. Suranjith Premadasa President of the Sri Lanka Equestrian Association said that they were trying to take the sport to the villages instead of N'Eliya.

This sport is only for those who love horse riding and there will be no gambling. As such they have no licence for gambling and will conduct gymkhana races, horse jumping and endurance races.

About 40 horse owners have confirmed of their participation and Premadasa is expecting about fifty horses. This day will be a fun day for the family with several other events on the cards. They also hope to get commentators from India to voice their comments over the airwaves.

Moors SC cricketers felicitated generously
By T.B. Rahaman
The Premier League cricket champion team were given a VIP like treatment on Friday night by their club, Moors SC. They were hosted to a grand dinner plus given cash rewards for their achievement, which is for the first time in the 95 year history of the club.

The chief guest at the function was M. H. Mohammed, Minister of Western Region Development. He congratulated the team for having achieved the Premier trophy for the first time for the club.

A.H.M. Azwer Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Rauf Hakeem, Minister of Ports Authority were the guests of Honour. But the other guest of honour the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Johnston Fernando did not turn up.

The president of the club Safeek Rajabdeen said that the players were offered a trip to Sharjah if they won the Premier Trophy but due to the war in Iraq, the players were offered cash bonanzas of upto Rs 1.2 Million.

He also reminisced the past by saying that Moors have produced several top quality cricketers with some of them playing for the national team. There were others who won in various other sports like hockey, snooker and billiards with the great M.J.M. Lafir having the best achievement in the sport.

The cricket team this year was led by Rangana Herath and was ably coached by former national all rounder Chandika Hathurusinghe who instilled strict discipline in the team. Their leading run getter was Bathiya Perera who scored over 900 runs this season and has been unjustly left out of the national squad for future selection.

They also have quality bowlers in Nandika Ranjith and Chanuka Welagedara who are knocking at the door for national selection. The following is the squad:
Chandika Hathurusinghe (Coach cum player), Rangana Herath (Captain), Bathiya Perera, Chanuka Welagedera, Nandika Ranjith, Nilantha Cooray, Wesley Rasika Fernando, Mohamed Faizer, Amila C. Wettasinghe, Thamara Abeyrathna, Ruwin Pieris, Manoj Fernando, Mahendra Dunusinghe, Subodha Jayawardhana, Dilshan Witharana, Aruna Bandaranayake, M.R.D. Hameen (Asst. Coach), M. Fazal, Lakmal Fernando, Adley Zubair.

Joe Kenny at the helm
A long standing yachtsman who is a very keen promoter of sailing in Sri Lanka Mr. Joseph Kenny was unanimously elected President of the Yachting Association of Sri Lanka for the second successive year at their 41st Annual General Meeting held recently.

Kenny, the Executive Director of Free Lanka Trading, took the undertaking to find a suitable location with a waterfront to house the headquarters, and also popularise this sport among the younger generations below 16 years of age when he was elected president for the first time.

He accomplished these tasks when he faced election this time. It was the unanimous decision of the Association that there was no other person more suitable to lead this Association in the coming year and they were very jubilant in electing him to do so.

Dharmaraja badly needs a ground
By Bernie Wijesekera
Dharmaraja College Kandy, being one of the oldest institutions in Sri Lanka has played a decisive role in producing some outstanding professionals on and off the field since 1893, the days of principal the late Sir Baron Jayatilleke.

The late Sir Jayatilleke was an old Wesleyite who moulded the Lake View school to excel in various disciplines. The Ananda-Dharmaraja match was started during his tenure.

It was their self belief and spirit that has helped them to face setbacks for this 40 acre Lake View Valley school - one of the most eye-catching institutions in the Hill Capital. Despite not being afforded with all the facilities to indulge in out-door activities the school still help maintain standards to develop the skills of the youngsters who have done proud for the school and at national level.

In cricket the likes of S.G. Munasinghe, R. Mettananda, T.B. Kehelgamuwa, G.S. Ratnayake, Mahinda Pethiyagoda, Sonny Yatawara, etc. In rugby - S.U. Mendis, Daya Jayasundara, Hemantha Yatawara and at present Indrajit Bandaranayake, just to name a few.

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