Niloufer Philips-Arasakumar – an allrounder of many facets
The passing away of Niloufer Philips-Arasakumar at the age of 64 came as sad news to me, as she had a long battle with cancer. Niloufer was well known for her battles on the squash court where she battled many times at the squash national finals against her arch rival the late Padmini Samarasinghe. So it is not surprising at all that she battled with this dreaded disease for a long time.
A product of Ladies’ College, Colombo, she was the national squash champion from 1984 to 1987, four years consecutively and again in 1989 and 1990. She represented Sri Lanka as captain in the Asian Squash Championship for several years. During her reign as champion, she was selected to play in the Mazda World Women’s Squash Championships held in
Sydney, Australia.
Niloufer was a pioneer in women’s cricket in Sri Lanka as well. As an all-rounder, she captained Sri Lanka, performing well in both batting and bowling.
Niloufer started her professional career at the Netherlands Embassy in Sri Lanka and thereafter decided to take up an appointment with the United Nations Foundation as a Human Resources and Administrative Assistant in New York, where she worked for 22 years until she retired in 2020.
I had the immense pleasure of meeting her in New Jersey about five years ago at my daughter’s home when she drove all the way from Connecticut just to meet me again and reminisce about the good times we had with the Squash fraternity in Sri Lanka.
She was born on December 13, 1959 and left us on October 22, 2023. Dear Niloufer, well done, good and faithful servant, may your soul rest in peace and rise in glory.
Christopher Dias (Kitto)