Sri Lankan women cricketers bid to emulate the feats of their male counterparts as they take wing to play in the Women's World Cup in India.
There was a match on at the S.S.C. so one could not judge their play but it was interesting to talk to them, as they took a break in the pavilion, with their President Gwen Herath
They come from places as varied as Ambalangoda, Anuradhapura, Kottawa, Kotahena, Kotte, Nugegoda, Moratuwa, Mutwal to mention a few.
They are all between the ages of eighteen and twenty five. Most of them, their cricketing abilities apart, are bashful as a new bride when one asks about their having boy friends. Says Niruka Fernando from Moratuwa. "I do not like boys." Niruka is currently looking for a job. Her favourite cricketer is Sanath Jayasuriya. Adds Tilaka Gunaratne from Central College, Anuradhapura blushing "If I talk about boy friends. I can't go home. She admires Aravinda de Silva.
Ramani Perera makes a wry face at the mention of boy friends and Thanuja Ekenayake says "gedera yandath ona ne?" Thaniya is from Kottawa Ananda Maha Vidyalaya and plays for the Young Ladies Club.
Kalpana Liyanarchchi, 24, is the articulate one among them often helping the others express themselves. Before she joined the Colts Cricket Club, she imported textiles from India and sold them.
"I gave it up and now I help my mother to run a flower shop." She studied at Musaeus College and comes from Kotahena. She confessed quite matter of factly, "I have many boy friends but nothing serious. Of course eventually I will get married and have a family."
"I love cricket and I am an all-rounder. I bowl, bat and I am also a good wicketkeeper.
"With practice we should do well. The Andra Pradesh team against whom we played recently was a strong team. They don't amount to much in bowling but are good in batting and very good at a fielding.
Sanath Jayasuriya is her favourite cricketer. "His batting is something wonderful," she says.
Rasanjali Silva 25, studied at Sri Jayewardenapura College and works at Access International at the Lucky Plaza. She helps print the new Sri Lankan driving licences. She plays for Colts. She too mentions Sanath Jayasuriya as her favourite cricketer. Obviously his batting has caught the imagination of most of the women cricketers.
At eighteen Yasanthi Ratnayake is the baby of the team sporting a Trans Asia 'T' shirt. She studied at Walisinghe Harischandra Anuradhapura.
Yasanthi Ratnayake plays for the young Ladies Club Mt Lavinia. She admires Sachin Tendulkar the Indian cricket captain and secondly Roshan Mahanama. I like Mohammed Azharuddin, former Indian captain and secondly Marvan Attapattu who is I think a good batsman."
Ganga de Silva says she is an allrounder in cricket and studied at Prajapathi Balika Vidyalaya Ambalangoda. She lives in Mutwal and her favourite cricketers are Roshan mahanama and Arjuna Ranatunga in that order.
Ranmali Perera from Buddhist Girls School Mt Lavinia made a decidedly wry face at the thought of having a boy friend, but perked up as she mentioned Arjuna Ranatunga as her favourite cricketer.
These young girls, said Kalpana, hope to get rich playing cricket as silver medalist Susanthika Jayasinghe has done and asked why not? They all like cricket and spend their spare time practising the gentlemen's game. They are a happy bunch of young girls dedicated to cricket. "I am too young to have boy friends she confessed. Gayathri Kariya-wasan works in an audit firm and hopes to be an accountant. She too admires Jayasuriya not romantically but as a cricketer.
Malabe Model Boys School was gifted with an auditorium recently by the Shiroshika Club of Fukuoka in Japan. This Building was ceremonially declared open by the club representative Novic Kushima.
Associated with Mr. Kashima on this occasion were Western Province Chief Minister A.D Susil Premjayanth, Provincial Councillor Hector Bethmage and the school Principal W.K Dep.
Pic: Athula Devapiriya.
Dr. Clarence de Silva has made an impact on areas that go way beyond the class room. He has led developments of several industrial machines including a finishing machine for rubber parts, an automated head removal system for salmon, an automated grading machine for herring roe, spray marking machine for live fish with application in fishery management, and an improved design of a continuously variable transmission.
One of the courses de Silva teaches is Intelligent Control, which involves developing "intelligent" machines to do things efficiently and at high speeds.
De Silva's research and development activities are primarily concentrated in the areas of: Process Automation, Robotics, Intelligent Control and Instrumentation (mainly Sensors and Actuators). Over the past six years, he acquired grants totalling approximately $2.5 million from sources including: NSERC, BC Packers, Advanced Systems Institute of BC, BC Hydro, Science Council of BC, Network of Centres of Excellence and the BC Ministry of Environment.
De Silva was born and raised in Sri Lanka and obtained his B.Sc. degree in engineering with First Class Honours and won the University Prize from the University of Ceylon in 1971.
After several years industry in Sri Lanka, as an assistant works engineer, where he gained experience in machinery maintenance, design and installation, he carried out postgraduate research. In 1978, he obtained a PhD. degree in Dynamic Systems and Control, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with research in autonomous guideway transit systems. One of de Silva's most notable awards was the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Association of Professional Engineers of BC in 1996.
De Silva has authored 13 technical books, 6 edited volumes, over 100 journal papers, and a similar number of conference papers and book chapters. He has given keynote addresses at several technical conferences and has served as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. De Silva has been an invited speaker in several countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, UK, Germany, Czech Republic, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Brazil.
-India-Canadian Voice
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