Sepaktakraw, the game which resembles volleyball but without the use of hands has certainly caught on with Sri Lanka’s participation of the Sri Lanka’ men’s team at the ISTAF World Cup to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from July 20 to 24. The competition will be held at the Titiwangsa Stadium. This time a women’s team was hard at practice at the British School Courts in Colombo 8. This team is training with the hope of taking part in the Kings Cup Tournament to be held in Bangkok, Thailand in September.
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| The sepaktakraw girls: (From Left): Chaturanga Pathirage, Gayani Kaushalya Wijesekera, Usha Chamara Perera, Anuradha Edirisinghe, Jayanni Suriyaarachchi. |
The players who were hard at practices watched by Sri Lanka’s Amateur Sepaktakraw Association President and treble international Nizam Hajireen are all from Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya. They are: Chaturanga Pathirage, Gayani Kaushalya Wijesekera, Usha Chamara Perera, Anuruddha Edirisinghe and Jayanni Suriyaarachchi.
Meanwhile there determined looks on the faces of the men’s sepaktakraw players who were concluding their practices for the ISTAF World Cup. The team is scheduled to fly on Tuesday, July 19.
Meanwhile the skipper of the Sri Lanka team to the ISTAF World Cup said: “I am proud and happy to represent Sri Lanka for the ISTAF World Cup and trust we have a good team to face the strong teams in this tournament.”
He said: “ Nizam Hajireen , president of Amateur Sepaktakraw Association is giving his fullest support to make the team strong for this event and is always working hard and making sacrifices to keep the game alive. We are thankful to Zahiran Hajireen as well who is in charge of the practices and taking a lot of effort to keep us fit for the tournament.”
Roween Sarap is attached to SCK HOLDINGS a well established freight forwarding company in Sri Lanka as a Manger and is having good support from the Managing Director Mr. Suraj Kathurusinghe and Directress Sumudu Kathirusinghe. He was also thankful to the Management team and the staff who is giving their fullest co-operation and support to cover his duties during his absence. He is also thankful to his parents and the family members who is giving their fullest co-operation to continue this sport, not forgetting his wife Ruweeni for taking care of all his duties during his busy schedule.
He assured to give off his best and get the maximum support from the team at the ISTAF world cup 2011.
Azmin Ahmat is another key player in the team. He has been representing Kolonnawa Malay Association and Garudas SC teams since 1995 and has toured for sepaktakraw competitions and basketball competitions with the Sri Lanka and Garudas teams. He plays the role of ‘killer’. He has also followed a Sepaktakraw Referees Course in India. He is attached to Stone ‘N’ String as an Executive and his employer has given him all encouragement to pursuer the sport’s activities.
Other members of the tour party: A.T.P. Rajasooriya, W.W.A.N. Fernando, T.A. Faleel, M.J.M. Isanullah, and T.Z. Hajireen. Coach: Nizam Hajireen. |
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