By Rangi Akbar

P. Vishvanathan (Manager)	Dammika Abeyratne (Capt)	K.S.S. Perera (V. Capt)

At one time Sri Lanka was ranked third in the Asian hockey scene behind Pakistan and India, not necessarily in that order. Somehow the standards of the game hit a low ebb and gradually Sri Lanka faded away much to the disappointment of the large followers of the game here. Countries such as Bangladesh, Thailand and Singapore came into the scene but die-hard supporters never gave up hope that some day the game would hit a purple patch.

Then like a flash out of the blue Sri Lanka bagged the Bronze at the 10th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games held in Sri Lanka and hopes soared once again. With this background the present Sri Lanka team led by T.M.S. Dammika Abeyratne of the Sri Lanka Air Force leaves for Dhaka on January 28 to contest at the 11th version of the SAF Games in Dhaka from January 29 to February 9.

Mr. P. Vishvanathan, the Manager of the Sri Lanka team, who is also a Senior Vice President of the Sri Lanka Hockey Federation and a member of the Asian Hockey Federation Finance Marketing Committee and Coordinating Officer for Sports told the Sunday Times that the team had trained hard under the guidance of Coach S.M Mulafer, who is a very experienced player cum coach and are confident of doing well at the 12 day sporting extravaganza.

Another Airman K.S.S. Perera is the deputy skipper of the team.

The hockey squad which was approved by the Sports Minister for the Games is as follows: Thusith Darshana Ratnasiri, I.K. Jayasundara, Anura Bandara Karunarathna, K.S.S. Perera, D.M Sapugasgodage, M.M. Gazzaly, T.M.S.D. Abeyrathne, M.G. Sanjeewa, M.T. Mahes, Randika Crishmal Fernando,N.D.B. Dissanayake, M.G.H.P. Dharmarathna, Diluka M. Weerasooriya, Nuwan Anju Hewage, MM Mulafer, HS Httiarachchi, DT Panditharatne and DMSB Wijekoon.

Mr. Laxman Abeygunawardena is the Assistant Manager and the experienced G.H Rupasinghe is the Assistant Coach.

Having toured India and Bangladesh with the Sri Lanka hockey team in 1978 with Sarath Serasinghe as skipper with Brian Assey as coach and Ayupala of Air Force as Manager, Sri Lanka had an eventful tour but were unable to win the Corera Cup in the games against India at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Madras (Tamil Nadu now). Nevertheless the team with players such as Fazul Razeen, the only boy from Carey College to win a national hockey tie, present coach Mulafer, Rafaideen as the dare-devil goal keeper, J.M. Jhan and Stanley Fernando as Assistant Coach, the team did extremely well.

The present status of the game is causing a lot of heartburn amongst Sri Lankans living abroad judging from the number of e-mails that I have been receiving regarding the plight of the game here. It is up to the present lot to lift the game out of the doldrums and put it back on the pedestal and only a gold medal at the SAF Games this year will be able to do it.

Mr. P. Vishvanathan, Manager of the team said that Gold was what the team was aiming at but that they were certain to run into strong competition against India and Pakistan. Mr. Vishnathan also said that the Sri Lanka team was also scheduled to take part in the Pre-Asian Hockey Championships in Bangladesh in May this year and the experience gained at the SAF Games would be a good preparation for it.