Basketball: 27th MBSL League postponed after Ganewatte's demise

The Mercantile Services Basketball Association (MSBA) has decided to postpone the ongoing 27th League Tournament indefinitely after the unexpected and sudden demise of Rienzi Ranil Ganewatte. 

Ganewatte (39) representing Hayleys Group suddenly collapsed soon after scoring against the Airport and Aviation in their League match played at the Henry Pedris Court last Friday (16) evening. 

Ganewatte was making his way to the back court when he collapsed and was later pronounced dead.

It was later revealed at the postmortem that sudden block of blood supply to his brain caused by two narrowed veins of the heart.

The 6 foot 5' centre player was one of the key players for his Mercantile team, Hayleys Group who was making their debut in the tournament. 

Ganewatte was born on April 23, 1978 and was a alumni of D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo where he played basketball from the Under-13 age group to the top. 

He went on to represent Sri Lanka Schools in 1996 and 1997 as a centre before joining Colombo Bulls BC. 

Ganewatte went on to represent Sri Lanka National team in 2001 and was also key player for the Western Province team for many years.

During his 12-year career in the Mercantile Tournament, Ganewatte represented Metropolitan Group, his first employer,  before joining the Hayleys Group. 

His funeral took place on Monday (19) at the Thalahena Cemetery in Malabe.