Perera steps down from NACSK after two decades
Prithi Perera
A change of guard in Sri Lanka canoeing took place as Prithiviraj Perera handed over the baton of the National Association for Canoeing and Kayaking (NACKSL) to Rear Admiral Chinthaka Kumarasinghe of the Sri Lanka Navy as its new President.
After 19 years since canoeing was introduced as a competitive sport in Sri Lanka, one of its prime initiators and a founding member, Rohan Prithiviraj Perera, a doyen of the sport for competitive canoeing and kayaking in Sri Lanka, relinquished his duties at its Annual General Meeting held on May 30 and predicting a bright future for this water sport, which is also being practiced in over 171 countries.
“This is a great sport for an island nation like Sri Lanka that has so many waterways, but, it has been a challenging task to promote the sport as volunteers, beginning at ground zero amidst competition from many other long established sports that have already been in existence for well over a century,” stated Perera.
“At the beginning, there was much work and there were not many takers, because the promoters were often out of pocket when working as volunteers. Also, one needs to build up the collections of boats, paddles, life jackets, equipment, coaches and attract interested participants, good sponsors and support from all stakeholders which are most needed, but, not easy to come by,” he recalled.
At the recently held AGM, a new set of office bearers were elected with Rear Admiral Chinthaka Kumarasingha of Sri Lanka Navy set to lead NACKSL for the next tenure. Captain (SBS) Chaminda Wijesiri of Sri Lanka Navy was elected the new Secretary General while Yu Mei Kumarasinghe of Adventure Seals was elected as the Treasurer.
The Executive Committee includes Rohan Prithiviraj Perera of BLRC, Rear Admiral Retd, Ajith Samarasinghe of DWSC, Sithira Wickramasekara of BLRC, Col. Asanga Perera of SL Army, Capt. J.A.K.S. Jayakody of SL Navy, Air Commodore Palinda Koswatte of SL Air Force, Danuna Thillakarathne of Lanka Adventure, Arosha Jayasundera of BLRC and Group Captain Asitha Hettiarachchi of SL Air Force.