| Sports |
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| Sanjeeva
- a brilliant player, modest individual It was at this point that fate intervened. Almost all his classmates in the A/L class were sold on rugger. By dint of prolonged persuasion, they were able to drag Sanjeeva onto the rugger field. Jeffrey Saheed who turns out presently for Havelocks was one of those responsible. Sanjeeva's career took off from there. He had just one season of school rugby and then threw in his lot with the Havies. His rise to fame and stardom was immediate. Picked for the Sri Lanka side in his first season in the Chocolate and Brown Jersey, Sanjeeva made his debut on foreign soil. He turned out for the Park Club with distinction for four years, captaining it in 2001. Not born with the proverbial silver spoon in the mouth, Sanjeeva was playing with the idea of finding employment abroad when a lucky break came his way. He decided to bid goodbye to the Havies and instead hitched his wagon to the Kandy Sports Club star. Sanjeeva is struck by the discipline and team-work at Kandy SC. He feels that it is due in the main to these two factors that his new club carries all before them. Half in just, he opines that picking the club side is more difficult than selecting the national side. Kandy SC has an experienced back division and everyone knows what's expected of him. He also speaks glowingly of the Havelocks sevens team (and Leonard de Zylva and Lakala Perera in particular). Sanjeeva's most abiding memory is of scoring a try after a 65 metre run against the champion all blacks side. This was at the 2002 Dubai sevens. He remembers defeating Kenya 27-19 in the Bowl quarter final, and going under to Wales, after a close tussle in the semis. Sanjeeva speaks with enthusiasm of the 2001 quadrangular at which Sri Lanka was captained by Asoka Jayasena and coached by Nimal Lewke - Sri Lanka beat Malaysia and Thailand at this tournament. At the Asiad Jayasena's team, of which Jayasinghe was an integral part, beat China only to lose to Singapore by a mere three points. Sanjeeva singles out Lewke as one of the main factors in his rise to stardom. With a tremendous sense of modesty he says he's not perfect and that he's still learning from his coaches, and from every international match he plays. In fact, he makes it a point to ask Kandy SC's technical advisor, George Simpkin, after every match, how he played. The talented and oh-so-speedy wing three quarter has represented the national team for five years. In that time he has toured Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Kazakhastan. Talking of the latter, Sanjeeva says that playing rugger in a heavy snow-fall was an altogether novel experience. Personally, Sanjeeva likes to play against foreign teams purely for the experience he can gain. Sanjeeva has just about recovered from a bad ankle injury which kept him out of all rugby for about eight months.
He was associated by the officials of the SLSF and Mohan de Silva, General Secretary of the SSC. This Open a ranking tournament, is organised and conducted by the Federation. At the inception there were only ten courts in Colombo, but today there are 110 courts among the clubs and schools. This "keep fit" sport in its wake has brought forth more regular competitions and had given that much needed exposure to the juveniles, juniors (both boys and girls) and for men and women in respective age groups. There are quite
a number of Lankans who have excelled in the SAF region. Like in
other countries, this sport has not given playing opportunities
to the less privileged, but confined to the affluent society. Yes.
There should be courts in every community centre and the sport should
be taken to the rural schools than confining to Colombo schools.
In countries like India, Pakistan etc., the facilities are available
for them. Col. Sarath
Jayawardena agreed that they should divert their attention to the
Provinces and to make more courts available for them to indulge.
Col. Jayawardena said, they hope to get the Sports Ministry assistance
and even go to the extent of making use of the experienced local
players of yesteryear to start a development programme. Entries
close on April 30 at 5.00 p.m. with the Sec. Tournament Committee,
SLSF, Sqn. Ldr. Jaliya Jayasekera at the Air Force Sports Complex,
Bauddhaloka Mv., or at the SSC. The draw will be held on the same
day at the SSC.
Maher was interviewed by The Sunday Times after the Arabian Gulf-Japan ARFU quadrangular tie, at Longden Place. Representatives from S'pore, Japan, Malaysia, Arabian Gulf, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka attended the course. Irishman Maher, with 14 years of Div. I rugby refereeing conducted the course, assisted by Jarrad Gallagher, Regional Development Manager Asia. It was hosted (jointly) by the Sri Lanka Rugby Union and the local Refs. Society. Gerry said, the course was well organised by the Refs. Society headed by Tony Amit. This assessors course is to help further the levels of refereeing in the Asian region. This will also afford them to officiate their matches in the region, by their own Refs. It will serve them to get that much needed confidence and the ability to handle the whistle without fear or favour. That means not to be carried away by the crowds. Yes. There should be total commitment and self belief and mental toughness. Once you are at the middle forget about other issues - personal or otherwise. Maher said, if the game is to make headway and further develop, then the standard of refereeing has to improve. Nizam Jamaldeen, who officiated the Arabian Gulf-Japan match had good control when the Japanese players went on a try spree. He had to run with the ball. Fitness plays a vital role in a fast open game. - BW Dilroy
has made it Sri Lanka is quite capable of producing quality Refs. to serve the game. The atmosphere for rugby here is adequate. Good facilities - ground. Plenty of talent. It needs proper planning. The management should work to a plan and look into player problems if there are any, Gerry Maher added. |
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