| Sports
|
||||
| Enjoying
golf in B’lore For Amrith, a 15-year-old student of the Colombo International School, this was the second All India Championships. When the Sunday Times spoke to him he said he really missed the team spirit which existed last year at the same competition. He said he remembers going to the Philippines some time ago. "It was just me, in the team whilst the other countries were represented by at least six junior golfers" He added : "It was much more interesting this year". Amrith stumbled on to golf quite unexpectedly. "A couple of years back I was having lunch at the Golf Club and one of the caddie's came up to me and asked if I was willing to play a round of golf. The rest as they say is history. And the future? I'm leaving for the States in a few days to attend a golf school in Florida. Here I'll be studying in the morning and playing golf in the evening". Binupa, the youngest member of the team is a 12-year-old student of Wycherley International School. He was quoted as saying, "It was my uncle who introduced me to the game. Now I play golf about five days of the week". Binupa participated in the 10 - 12 age category. Though he was not able to make it to the top five, Binupa was able to gain a lot from the experience of travelling out of the country as a group representing Sri Lanka. Is it only golf that interests him? "I also swim, but my aim is to one day grow to be a professional golfer", he said. Mithun needs no introduction. This 16-year-old is a student of President's College and is the son of veteran Golfer Nandasena Perera. It was inevitable that his focus too would soon turn to golf. "I started playing with my father's clubs a few years ago, and the sport simply grew on me", he said with a wry smile. This was his first tournament abroad and it was helpful he said. "It was nice to travel as a team". He too plans to go into professional golf soon. Though these youngsters were unable to bag any of the titles the experience was worth it. Amongst the others that participated were golfing juniors from all over the region. Some of the Indian teams play a minimum of 11 tournaments a year, travelling extensively. Considering the fact that we do not play as many games, our placing at this tournament was well worth the effort. Pheroze Billimoria coaches both Amrith and Binupa whilst Mithun is being coached by none other than his father. Sri Lankan Airlines sponsored their Air tickets. Joint
effort to promote hill capital rugby This was revealed to The Sunday Times by Dr.Sarath Kapuwatte, the president of KSC. He said, the organisers will not participate, but encourage newcomers (Clubs) to join the scrum. There are quite a number of schools playing rugby barring Colombo. The respective schools have formed clubs - schools like Trinity, St. Anthony's, Kingswood, Dharmaraja, Vidyaratha, St. Sylvester's, Dimbula Planters Summer Hill N'Eliya, Matale and Kurunegala, Kandy combined hotels, Combined Banks will take part. The event will be sponsored by Mobitel. This was the brainchild of the former Minister of Sports, Lakshman Kiriella to uplift this popular sport in the district with the formation of more clubs in Kandy than confining it to one or two clubs. This is not going to help the school leavers to be in continuity said Kiriella, when he was the Minister of Sports to The Sunday Times. Kandy S.C. have already organised coaching clinics to beginners in the district at Nittawella, handled by Hemantha Yatawara, overlooked by George Simpkin. It's open to all and no barriers. Even the parents are harnessed into this programme. This is a laudable move jointly organised by KSC and Kandy Youth to afford the merging clubs scrum down at competitive level. Thilanga Sumathipala, Chairman of the S.L.T. and former president of the Cricket Board will be the chief guest. |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
