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Sports

Thomian rowers excel in Hong Kong
Fresh after their cracking display of powerful rowing at the annual Royal-Thomian encounter, the Thomians led by young Preshith Ganegoda, stamped their mark of excellence by winning Gold and Silver medals in Hong Kong. The Thomians had with them three capable Asian Games aspirants to strengthen their profile.

Their abilities were amply displayed by winning the Gold Medal in the Men's Open Fours event, where they took on four experienced men's crews used to conditions overseas whilst the Thomians' training was with limited resources available in Sri Lanka. They rowed without a coxwain, a situation unavailable in Sri Lanka and over a distance of two kilometres, the longest available for training being one kilometre here. The fact that the course was demarcated with buoys helped the boys to steer a straight course and avoid controversy by objections as was observed at the recently concluded Royal-Thomian Regatta. The Gold Medal crew were (Bow) Preshith Ganegoda, (Two) Salman Nisthar, (Three) Hishan Fernando and (Stroke) Tharindu Gunasekera.

The younger outfit of Under 19 Boys 'A' crew, the Thomians once again showed absolute resilience to overcome the same unfamiliar conditions by winning the Silver Medal. The event was contested among the four teams. Here, the home crew won Gold. The Silver Medal crew were: (Bow) Dejan de Zoysa, (Two) Dharshan Goonaratna, (Three) Praveen Karunanayake and (Stroke) Isuru Perera.

The young Thomians were generously supported by a very strong united group of oarsmen and sponsors who understood the nature of hard training put in by the boys throughout the year with 'religious faith'. The boys were accompanied by Assistant Technical Coach, Mr. Chevantha Sirimanne, who himself had participated in the event thrice as competitor for S. Thomas' College and was a past captain. The Thomian coaching outfit under National Coach Mr. Ajith Goonawardena comprises M/s. Cheventha Sirimanne, Tazio Ratnayake, Jehan Perera, Neville Harridge and Shirley Panditaratne (MIC).

Sri Lanka ranked number three in world
By M. Shamil Amit
The Sri Lanka indoor cricket team which participated at the recently concluded world indoor cricket tournament held in Wellington, New Zealand made a name for itself by being ranked as the third best team in the world. This was fine performance due to the fact that they were playing in the first ever world cup. The Lankans pushed the second placed England side to fourth place and will be a side to reckoned with in the next world cup scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in 2004.

Led by Asela Pathirana the local team went with their heads high to New Zealand and brimming with confidence. Before taking wings to New Zealand the side hosted three countries India, Australia and England the last two named were the champions and number two in indoor cricket.

The Indians were no match for newcomers Sri Lanka eating humble pie with 4-0 defeat. The best moment for the local lads were when they hosted the world champions in a three test series. They sent shock waves when they inflicted the first ever defeat to the Australians in more than 50 matches. But the Aussies used their experience to come back and win the other two tests to take the series.

England ranked second in the world had a shock of their life. Most probably not knowing the strength of the Sri Lankan team took things easy with result going back home with a 3-0 series defeat. Going into the world tournament, the Sri Lankans had a easy passage in the first game where they defeated the Indians quite comfortably.

The next match was against host country New Zealand whom they were meeting for the first time but went down by 14 runs which is recorded as one of the best matches played in the world cup. In the third match which was against champions Australia. The Lankans were in for a shock when their coach Craig Slacombe was included in the Australian team which would have demoralised the players and lost heavily by 56 runs. The fourth match which was against England the Lankans were unfortunate to lose the game in a thriller by two runs.

The second round games began with Sri Lanka yet in contention but a loss to New Zealand put paid their chances. Their battle for the third place was against England whom they lost by two runs. But they took sweet revenge when they defeated England by 20 runs thus putting a claim to be ranked as the third best indoor cricket team in the world.

At present there are 14 countries playing indoor cricket and with the next world cup being scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka with over ten countries expected to participate. Sri Lanka will definitely be a side to reckoned with.

Caltex Lubricants Ltd which sponsored the Australian indoor cricket tour of Sri Lanka went a step further by being the sponsors of the Sri Lanka indoor cricket team which will continue till year 2004 the year which the next world cup will be held.

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