Pathetic Pedal Politics

By Channaka de Silva and Namal Pathirage

It is a sad situation when one has to waste one's time and money in police stations and courts having come forward to indulge in a volunteer service. This is just the thing that has happened to the two bunches of people who have enedeavoured to improve the sport of cycling in Sri Lanka.

A lot of people claim themselves to be nothing but interested in developing the sport of cycling in Sri Lanka and this same good intention has created a lot of squabbles and unpleasantness among those same people, ironically resulting in a deterioration of the sport rather than a development. Some may view it the misfortune of the sport, but on a wider perspective it is difficult to be blamed on the fate or just as something inevitable taking place. This sad state is the result of unacceptable attitudes and wrong decisions of the people involved.

Who's suffering ? Water always flows through the lowest point. It is the poor youth who zealously follow the sport that are at the receiving end. For many of them, the life's sole breakthrough comes through the sport. It will help them find a job, may earn them a decent living and it could mean much more than just pedalling away to fame and glory. 

Generally cycling is a poor man's sport in Sri Lanka. The prevailing unhealthy background has driven the poor man to be a poorer man. Will the people squabbling to meet their own ends under the pretext of developing the sport accept the responsibility for this?

The Cycling Federation of Sri Lanka is one of the 40 odd sports bodies registered with the Ministry of Sports in the country. Among the high and mighty who have been at the helm of this body from time to time in the recent past are, cabinet ministers Ronnie de Mel, Kingsley Wickremaratne, A.H.M. Fowzie, Sarathchandra Rajakaruna and Chandra Bandara. This is a fact which underlines the importance placed on the sport despite it being tagged a poor man's sport.

Since 1996, Cycling Federation's troubles mounted dramatically. Now the situation has atrophied to a catastrophe and the way out seems even unthinkable. No light is visible at the end of the tunnel !

The early rumblings of the breakdown were heard as early as in 1994, when three of the most talented cyclists in Sri Lanka disappeared with the national coach Boniface Perera in Japan when they went there to take part in the 12th Asian Games in Hiroshima.

This resulted in a sudden decline of the sport but as usual, time mended up the problems gradually. The root of the present debacle is simply the power struggle of the Federation. Sports Ministry has also proved that it can do nothing more than being a passive spectator because experience shows that their mediation efforts have become a joke. While cyclists are complaining, the ministry is putting up a sorry show.

There are two factions of people who are fighting it out for the power of the Federation. One faction is headed by Minister Fowzie while Sri Lanka's only international Cycling commissioner N. Karunaratne leads the other faction.

Both these factions claim themselves to be officially elected office bearers of the Federation and dismiss opposing factions as illegal. The puzzle deepens due to the lethargy shown by the ministry to solve it.

There is a fierce court battle going on at the moment between the factions. Karunaratne faction has filed a case in the Colombo District court against the Fowzie faction, demanding the ownership of the Federation headquarters at Reid Avenue. Before that, They had lodged a complaint against the secretary of the Fowzie faction Patrick Hapuarachchi at the Kurunduwatte Police station for not handing over the keys of the Federation headquarters.

The Fowzie faction has come forward to face those court cases. Meanwhile they are also getting ready to lodge a complaint against the Karunaratne faction about some documents disappearing from the Federation headquarters. They allege that the Karunaratne faction had bribed a former top administration officer of the Federation to pilfer those documents. They also allege that the Karunaratne faction had withdrawn a certain sum from the Federation accounts. They say they would take legal action against this.

The tussle between the factions which has now grown in complication, began March 31, 1997 when the former office bearers of the Federation put off the election of office bearers. The members of the Federation who gathered at the headquarters of the Federation without knowing that it had been postponed, chose to have a fresh election without the former office bearers where Karunaratne was unanimously elected the president.

As this happened, former office bearers of the Federation held a press conference at another place to explain the reasons for the postponement of the election. They cited Minister's unnecessary finger poking into the Federation affairs as the reason. 

The Minister had removed the ban on eight clubs placed by the Federation just a few hours before the election and the officials said they wanted to put off the election till they discussed the matter with the Minister and briefed him on why those clubs were banned. Most of the former officials had forwarded nominations for the election under the leadership of Fowzie.

It is clear now that the Sports Minister had no clue to the legal implications of his decision, by the fact that he could not do anything beyond his earlier decision while things turned from bad to worse. Minister had said that both factions are illegal but surprisingly has done nothing to rectify it.

The Minister claims that the election in which Karunaratne faction grabbed power is illegal, but the Ministry observers who were present at the election had reported to the Minister that it was held according to the formalities.

The Minister has had several rounds of talks with both factions. Both factions claim that the Minister accepted them as the legal body and had promised assistance.

One source close to the Fowzie faction said that the Minister had visited Fowzie when he was in hospital due to some illness and had promised to establish an interim body to look into the affairs of the Federation.

Karunaratne faction, which the Ministry claims is illegal was given the responsibility conducting the cycle races at the Sports Ministry held National Sports Festival. Many who watched the event on TV thought the Minister had taken a decision. But there have been many occasions like that when the Minister extended recognition to the Fowzie faction as well.

The Fowzie faction complains of bias at the Ministry official handling Cycling. A senior official of the Ministry, once chased this officer away while attending an event organised by the Karunaratne faction. But this officer told "The Sunday Times" that he has no favourites and said he is supporting any action either of these factions take to develop the sport. He once associated with the Karunaratne faction at a press conference.

Fowzie's stand on the issue is unclear. He says that he only has a vague idea of everything. But members of his faction say that he will stay with the Federation to serve.

Karunaratne said his faction owns the legal right to run the activities of the Federation and said that they would take steps for the welfare of the cyclists. He reiterated that his faction was the legal Cycling Federation and asked not to call it the Karunaratne faction but the Cycling Federation.

The spreading of the troubles of the Associations to the district bodies and clubs is another setback for the quest to quell the fighting.The recent clash between the Anuradhapura Cycle Association and the "Ranjith Anura" Cycle Club ended with the sacking of Nihal Lewke who held office in both these bodies. Lewke was a supporter of the Fowzie faction while Anthony Siemens, a renowned cyclist in the past, joined the Karunaratne faction.

Both these factions are made of officials who worked together sometime ago and there are some who have the capacity and the interest to do things for the improvement of the sport.

The last time Sri Lanka took part in an international event was way back in 1996 when a team visited Hong Kong. There is nobody interested in organising such an event as well. This has left the cyclists stranded without a direction to turn. They don't even know where they could obtain a letter of recommendation when they want to find a job. Their plight is deep but mute.

Many observers point out that the best thing to remedy the situation is to work in harmony with both factions.

What they say…

Senaka Ranasinghe is one of the chief men in the Karunaratne faction. He could be tagged the spokesman of the faction as well. He had this to say on the current situation. 

We defected as we found it difficult to work with the people who have turned the sport into a business. What they did was to always get a minister as the president and then getting their things done through that. They also brought the politics into the Federation through this. 

I put the blame for the sport's destruction on Amal Suriyage. When Minister Ronnie de Mel was heading the Association they established a One Million rupee fund for the development of the sport. Only Suriyage and the crowd know what happened to that fund. 

He is questioning what I know of cycling. I am also posing the same question to him. We are the legal office bearers of the Federation. We have already prepared a full action plan for the entire year. We hope to have the South Asian cycling championships here in Colombo in April. 

We conducted six national level competitions last year. All what Fowzie faction did was to sabotage them. They have told the sponsors not to help us for our competitions. They have forged the signatures of the cyclists and have sent a bogus petition to the minister. If they are telling that I have cheated Rs. 15,000 from the Federation, I challenge them to take me to courts. 

Amal Suriyage is the most talked about person in the cycling scene of the country. He held office as the Vice President of the Association for a long time. He is one of the key players of the Fowzie faction. His public battles with the Karunaratne faction are famous among sporting circles.

I could point out the person called Senaka Ranasinghe as the chief man responsible for the whole problem. He turned the sport upside down. There were problems inside the Federation. But Ranasinghe is the person who brought them on. 

I developed the sport at school level. I can describe the parts of a bicycle. But this Senaka Ranasinghe can't tell even the number of balls in a bicycles. Some unscrupulous elements who couldn't get any posts from us joined him. 

Ranasinghe went against us because he could not get the treasurer's post. We know why he wanted the treasurer's post. We have alleged that he had taken a sum from the Federation accounts. We are going to pursue this matter. 

They shouted for years. But what have they done for the sport? We made the Federation accounts thrive during our time. They are asking about the Federation Fund. But I can assure you that it is there intact. As trustee of that Fund I could vouch that we won't let Karunaratne –to touch it.

Cricket With Ranil Abeynaike

Keep the game simple

We live in a day and age when the human race is consistently attempting to find ways and means of improving, developing, creating ideas in their professional fields. Cricket is no different. The competitiveness in the sport at the highest level has reached such heights that teams are consistently discovering ways and means to get any possible advantage over their opponent. It is therefore not possible to employ the same methods continuously should the opposition find ways of counter attacking, The important thing though is not to get carried away from the basics. "Playing textbook Cricket" used to be a common phrase of the past. Yes, there is an art, a way to play cricket. The closer a player sticks to it, the better it will be. 

The Sri Lankan Cricketers are finding the going very tough currently in Australia. The fans are disappointed, the tongues of the critics are wagging. For today, let me dwell on this subject of sticking to the basics and thereby keeping the game simple. 

The game against the Englishmen last Tuesday was a very crucial one. A win for Sri Lanka that day would certainly have resurrected their chances of staying in contention for a final place. Within no time they were tottering at 4 wickets for 21 runs. Within a dozen overs of the game commencing the English had the game in the bag. 

Let's analyze each of the dismisals. Sanath Jayasuriya was the first to go. He played a horizontal bat shot which was not too short and not too far outside the off stump, could not control the flight path of the ball which lodged safely in the hands of cover point. The length where the ball pitched and the closeness to the off stump made it impossible to control that delivery using that much of bottom hand. What could have been played was front foot stroke, 'hit " on the up" with total control with the front hand. It would have been less powerfully hit but would not have cost the wicket,' 

Romesh Kaluwitharana followed soon after. He received a good length delivery that moved back into him slightly. Kaluwitharana moved his right foot back then hardly moved his left foot, then went through with head in air. The ball slipped between bat and pad and knocked his castle over. What should have happened? The front foot should have been moved upto the pitch of the ball, then, the decision could have been made whether the drive was on or not. lts the stuff that those who coach juniors keep on saying. 

Wicket number three was that of Marvan Atapattu. He received one that was outside the off stump, short but not very short. He was nowhere near the ball. Played a shot between a back foot drive and a square cut and ended up thick edging the ball to second slip. Once again the batsman paid the penalty of not getting close enough to the ball and also not picking the correct stroke for the particular delivery. Yes, the dismissal was the cause of the basics not being followed. 

The fourth wicket to fall was that of Hashan Tillekaratne. He received the perfect yorker. A quick delivery, right on middle stump and dipping to land on the crease. It spreadeagled the stumps. Now, Tillekaratne is a player with a high back lift. He must keep in mind that bowlers will slip in the regular yorker particularly as he comes into bat. On this occasion all credit to the bowler for out thinking the batsman. 

Not very much long after these dismissals, a partnership of 92 runs was put on between Arjuna Ranatunga and Upul Chandana.What did they do that the others did'nt ? They batted clinging as much as possible to the correct technique that they knew of. In short they stuck to the basics and played the bowling on its merits. 

Sometimes players complicate simple issues by getting carried away because of the situations they find themselves in. Even proven, experienced cricketers can make the same mistake that young schoolboys make. The best way to avoid that or at least minimize it is to revolve your play around the basic techniques and keeping the game as simple as possible. 

In brief

Nilam's team on top

Nilam's team captained by Nilam Magdon Ismail won the Multiform Chemicals Trophy awarded to the team champions at the championships conducted by the Bridge Federation of Sri Lanka held at its Headquarters at the Race Course. 

The winning team comprised Iseth Magdon Ismail, D.P Senaweera, Dr. Keerthisena, M Chelliah and Mrs Srihari Saranavapavan. 

The runner up team comprised: Mrs Anthea de Alwis, Podi Singham, Shanthi Rasiah, Glory Arasakumar and Ashantha de Mel. 

The third placed team was made up of: Paul de Neise, Pesi Rustomjee, Asoka Warnasooriya, T. Thillainadarajah, Mrs Manel de Neise and Gilian Ratnayake. The team made up of K.P Bakaran, Anton Selvanayagam, Fritz Perera, T Shamugaligam, M Salgadoe and H. Weerasuriya finishing in 4th place. Six teams participated in the competition. 

SAARC Bridge

A Sri Lankan Open team and a ladies team will participate in the SAARC Bridge championships from February 4 to 9 in Dhaka while the Youth team will represent Sri Lanka at the pre-qualifying round of the World Youth Championships in Cairo from February 15 to 20. 
Meanwhile the annual prize giving of the Bridge Federation of Sri Lanka and Contract Bridge Association will be held on Tuesday January 26th at their Headquarters at 6.30 p.m

Five for MRF

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka will send three fast bowlers and two coaches to the M.R.F. Foundation in India to be trained under Dennis Lillee from January 22 to 30th. 
Three fast bowlers picked are Mario Villavarayen, Sajeewa de Silva and Eric Upashantha and the two coaches are Ashantha de Mel and Rumesh Ratnayake. 

Cager finals today

The Sri Lanka Basketball Federation broke new ground by conducting a few matches in the Lifebuoy Cup 1998 Junior National Championships in the outstations. 
Matches were played at the Dudley Senanayake Stadium Courts in Hingurakgoda and the Public Ground Courts at Ratnapura. 
The semi-finals and final will be played on Saturday and Sunday, January 23rd and 24 at the Depot Police Courts at Bambalapitiya. 
In the matches played,Hambantota beat Polonnaruwa by 60 points to 31. 
Hambantota 60 (T. Yatigammana 21, Sahan de Silva 16), Polonnaruwa 31 ( R. Mathew 12) 
Colombo beat Hambantota 21 by 83 points to 59. 
Colombo 83 (C. Wickremasinghe 18, Duke Rajapaksa 14, Chatura Wickrema 14) 
Hambantota 59 (T. Yatigammana 18) 
Colombo beat Polonnaruwa 48 to 26.
Colombo 48 (Chanaka Wickremasinghe 14, Rodney Wannithambi 10) 
Polonnaruwa 26 (D. Christopher 10). 
Kandy beat Colombo by 82 points to 76. 
Kandy beat kurunegala by 94 points to 40. 
Colombo beat Galle by 57 points to 51. 
Kandy beat Galle by 73 points to 51. Galle beat Kurunegala by 79 points to 45. 

Four Seasons cricket

Synnex will take on Agromart Foundation in a limited overs cricket match at the Parliament Grounds today (Sunday Jaunary 24) at 10 a.m. The winners of this match will be presented the Four Seasons Challenge Trophy. 
Kapila Priyasekara will lead the Agromart Foundation team in the match organised by Travis and Suraj. 

Learn to Swim

The Fishtail Aquatic Club has organised a life saving training programme along with the 'Learn to Swim' programme every Sunday morning from January 24 at 9.30 a.m. These programmes will be conducted by Senior Life Saving Coach, I.P. Bamunu Arachchi and will be assisted by Rodney Silva.

Applications will close with M.S.M. Iqbal the Secretary Fishtail Aquatic Club, 45/6, Madampitiya Road, Colombo 15 on a first come first serve basis. 

Chamara doing well

Former Sri Lanka's National table tennis champion Chamara Fernando is going great guns in Victoria, Australia being featured in the official publication in TT in Vicotira Nets 'N' Edges. 
Chamara is presently ranked 9th in the Australians Men's national rankings representing the Victoria State. The former Sri Lanken National Champion helped his State to win the bronze medal in the team championships defeating Queensland in the final round. 
In the City of Onkadaringa, Australian TT championships, Chamara beat Jeff Dlump the 6th ranked national player, 21-18, 21-13, 21-17 to qualify to the quarter finals. 

Magnet therapy

What can you do when you've got a tennis elbow? Try magnet therapy, says Lindsay Davenport. It worked for the number one woman player, who has been struggling with the injury for months. "It's amazing," she said."I mean, my arm, my elbow was bad for the last six months of last year. It hurt a lot through December and I swear I did this magnet therapy thing". 
She said she put her arm under a machine holding a giant magnet for five hours to end the pain. "It has not hurt me one bit since. So I don't know what happened, but for three weeks now in Australia it has been great. I can serve and practice and serve as much as I want to. "People believe in weird stuff and I don't ,but it worked."

MacGill the 'magic leg-spinner'

Bernie Wijesekera reporting from Australia 

Stuart MacGill, a youngster with an Irish background, is yet another magic leg-spinner, who will stengthen the Aussie bowling armour for them to dominate the international cricket scene. 

He came in as a replacement for injured Shane Warne, hit the high spot, with a match-bag of 12 for 107 in the final Test against England at the SCG. It has earned for himself $500,000 within two hours (after being adjudged the man of the match) with this lavish sponsorship package. Here, is a youngster, who hadn't a car of his own, a house to live where he stayed with his parents. Now being swamped with offers by various companies including the T.V. in this match of his life. 

Four years ago the lad had to take a train from Perth to Sydney to further his one-match first class career.

It was never a bed of roses. He had to grind hard to reach the top. One can't reach the top from the top. But his parents Terry and Jennie were the guiding light. 

His parents still live in Perth, along with his sister Fiona. His parents thought their son was a part-timer. His father Terry played for West Australia. He was brought up in Perth, where his parents still live. Initially he was trained by his dad. There was lack of playing opportunities for Stuart in WACA and was encouraged by the former Aussie leggie Peter Philpott to play grade cricket in Sydney. 

It proved a fairytale beginning for the lad. Through sheer dint of hard work at the nets he walked into the State team then to the Test team for the third Test against S. Africa in Adelaide last January. 

He plays one match at a time and not expecting to be a regular member of the team. That was one reason his parents followed him closely. Here is a young prospect, who applied to several counties to join 'em as a professional. Most of them even did not care to reply him. 

Now he has the last laugh, when he baffled them at the SCG with a record haul to deprive them of squaring the Ashes series. Four years ago the present England captain Alec Stewart got Stuart to bowl at the nets in Perth. Four years later the same Stuart, caused a dilemma to the English batsmen with his wiles. After this magic effort - a seven wicket haul, skipper Mark Taylor says that Stuart gets better every Test he plays. He used to bowl one bad ball an over, but now one bad ball in two or three overs. 

There is something special in the youngster - he has a special word for his parents, who were on the ball, after his early tutelege given by his father. Though more recognised coaches coached him later, it was his dad who sowed the seeds for the start of his cricketing career. There is cricketing lineage which has connexions, more than father and son. MacGill something special - his grandfather once dismised Sir Don Bradman. 

MacGill is Australia's newest spinning wizard after Shane Warne. He says the big thing in wrist spin bowling, is the way the ball reacts off the pitch through the air which depends on the angle of your wrist. A hardworking bowler who believes that one has to find one's own salvation. 

He is trying a new delivery to baffle the batsmen. He quips that he is working on it to make sure it will work for all times. Our youngsters should take note of Stuart's perseverance at the nets. 

MacGill's initials are accidental in cricketing parlance. It's a mixture of Australian and Welsh names. His father Terry, did not realise what he has done to Stuart, until 1983. 

He brought over his son to the Sydney Cricket Ground and purchased a SCG tie for him. Then he realised that the initials tallied with his son's initials. Papa MacGill was amazed. Imagine Stuart MacGill, has been closely linked to the ground. His performance at the SCG in the final Test has left an indelible mark when he had a record haul of 12 for 107 - the best at the SCG in the history of Test cricket. 

MacGill after his match-winning effort in the deciding Test after being 2-1 within two hours he became rich with A$500,000 thanks to the initiative taken by his parents to bring him to Sydney when they found that his chances at the WACA was limited for wily leg-spin bowling. His 12 for 107 is the best seen at the SCG in 111 years. 

With Shane Warne and MacGill they form a terrible pair of spin-twins and could help the Aussies to dominate the Test arena. 

The Aussie selectors headed by Alan Border will face an unenviable task of picking the number one leggie for a Test. Will they have two 'leggies' to decide. The presence of Stuart will put tremendous pressure on Warne. Much will depend on Warne's fitness. Warne, pulling out of the Pakistani tour due to injury gave MacGill the opportunity to prove his mettle which he did, to help the Aussies to win a Test series against Pakistan in Pakistan after 39 years. 

MacGill has 47 wickets from eight Tests. At the same stage Shane had 13. Sri Lankan fans can be rest assured that the Aussie selectors will not go on past form, which is only a memory, but will strictly decide on the present form. This is the guideline for selection and for the Kangaroos to dominate the international scene. 

When Steve Reeves visited Sri Lanka

S.J. Anton Ebert, past president of the Sri Lanka Physical Culture Federation is perturbed about the state of affairs of the present Physical Culture Federation, and Body Building in particular as a sport in Sri Lanka.

I was greatly disturbed about the present situation that body building has come down to ground level having no qualified people to uplift the sport. My personal opinion of body building is that it had an excellent record in Sri Lanka since 1959. It was Clarence J.de Alwis who was the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Amateur Body Building Association, during my school days.

The first Mr Asia Concert was staged in Sri Lanka at the Orchid Room, Vihara Mahadevi Park by Sri Lankan great entertainer Mr Donovan Andree who sponsored the Mr. Asia Contest bringing down artistes from abroad for a top variety show. The then body building association was so popular and powerful in Asia that the Asian Body Building Federation (ABBF) agreed to stage a few more contests in Sri Lanka due to its beautiful beaches suitable for the foreign contests. After the Asian Contest in 1959 , 1963, 1969 and 1985 Mr. Asia Championships were staged in Sri Lanka on a grand scale at the Sugathadasa Stadium. 

I could remember even the world famous body builder Mr Universe, Mr World, Steeve Reeves, Mr Universe Chuck Sepes, visited Sri Lanka on an invitation as the guest of honour for Mr Asia Contest.

During my term as President of the Sri Lanka Physical Culture Federation, that's from 1979 to 1981 the Federation was very lively with a full-packed calendar. The Provincial Contests, Most Muscular Man Western Province, He Man Contest, Mr Muri Beach, Mr Hercules, Mr Novices and the big show, the National Body Building Championship Mr Sri Lanka along with the Miss Venus Contest an extravaganza concluding the year's programme were held in October/ November which was also a pre-selection contest for the team to represent Sri Lanka at the Mr Asia Contest. 

Immediately after the National event a coaching camp was organised along with the National Coach Mr P. A. Karunaratne at Welimada YMCA which was a great success to the up-and-coming body builders to study the latest training techniques with the latest equipment produced from time to time by the United States 'Weider Products'. 

I am proud to say that there was great enthusiasm and team spirit amongst participating teams for the the National Body Building Championships coming from the outstations to Colombo of which the Kandy YMCA always produced a large number of contestants. 

High rise for football

By Gokulan Nadarajah

Europe is the mother land of soccer, they dominated the World Cup since it started. In the past other regions were also playing some fine soccer to challenge the Europeans. Asians did well in last two World Cups. They also showed their importance in the field.

Though South East Asia doesn't have a team to compare with Asian standard and World Cup standard, they are doing well to match the Asians.

The Sri Lankan team has done well within their limits and they have already shown their class in this region. Soccer was an ill-treated game once in our country, but it is changed now. It is placed on a high position with some other sports. First and second on the preference list are cricket and athletics.

Our soccerites recently proved their skills in the Independent Cup hosted by Sri Lanka though their defeat at the hands of India in the golden goal, was not because they lack in skills and attributes compared with Indians. Some of our national players' skills are very advanced. That's why they are able to play for clubs overseas even in Europe.

Players are selected for the national pool from Premier playing clubs, in this case Saunders and Ratnam have produced the most number of players for the pool. Both these teams met in the finals of Super League Competition, one of the prestigious tournaments in the country, which was held on January 10 at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Six teams participated in this tournament in two groups. Ratnam, Cooray and Old Bens fought in group-A while Saunders, Wanathamulla S C and Youngsters S C played in Group-B . In Group-A, Ratnam was selected for the final by one goal different, when they drew against Cooray (2-2). In Group-B Saunders had an easy passage and they were selected to play the finals. 

The finals started under lights at 7.30 pm in front of a big crowd. Most of them were Saunders fans. They all thought it was an easy Saunders win. One reason for that was that they played with five national players. They had real chances both in first and second half, but they missed them all. Then they played for the golden goal, both teams got chances there as well, but missed . Then the penalties came and the start was disappointing for Ratnams when M. Rawme missed the first kick . 

Fans started cheering and they were silenced when number two kicker U.L. Nihal missed the post. At that stage Ratnam lead by 4-3 with one kick left. Then comes the Saunders skipper Imran to the mark, and the ball hits the horizontal bar. That night was all Ratnams. 

Realising the importance of a coach in the performances of players, "Sunday Times" talked to the losing coach P.D. Sirisena. 

As a player, Sirisena has played Premier division matches, representing Saunders Club. He has performed well during his days and has been selected to play in the National Team in 1960. His skills and abilities brought him chances to play in foreign countries. He as a professional, played for clubs in Netherland and Bangladesh. Also, he coached the National team for the Independent Cup.

He mentioned that, his unforgettable moment in football was his club winning the F.A. Cup under his captaincy in 1960. There, he scored an amazing six goals to clinch the trophy for Saunders against Wellawatte Mills (7-2). He created a Sri Lankan record for that six goals and also made a record for scoring the most number of goals in a season. He scored 29 goals to his credit in that season.

As a coach, he trains Saunders SC . Under his command, Saunders performed well in the past. Last year, he brought them up to the final stage in the prestigious Premier division competitions such as Bristol F.A. Cup, Wijeya Kumarathunga Cup, Mayor's Cup, Bristol League and Super League Cup. They won the F.A Cup and the Kumarathunga Cup beating Renown SC in both occasions. They lost to Ratnam SC in the Mayor's Cup, Bristol League and Super League Cup on penalties.

The team had five national players (Chatura Maduranga, Manjula Sirisena, Imran Mohamed, Isuru Perera, G.P.C. Karunaratna). They all proved their worth in the finals. They all were keen to break the Ratnam attack and place themselves in the lead. A 17-year old student of De Mazenod College, Kandana Chatura Madurange who also played in the Independent Cup is the youngest of the team. He is also a player from the Saunders Coaching Project.

About the Coaching Project, he said "Our club is doing a vital thing to develop soccer in this area, by doing this project. We are doing it annualy by gathering 200 young players in the age group between 8 - 16 and train them. At the end of each year we are organising a prize giving to encourage the players. We are happy with the results it has bought us so far, said Sirisena .

However according to Sirisena, the players were not up to their standards in the final match, "we missed four chances in scheduled time and another miss in the time allocated for the Golden Goal". He followed it was unfortunate to miss two chances in penalties. One of the players who missed the target during the penalty shoot-out was skipper Imran Mohamed. He recalled one previous occasion where Imran missed a penalty in the F.A. Cup Semis. But they managed to win that tournament.

When Imran talked to "The Sunday Times", he said "It was the final kick. I knew if I missed it, we would be losing the trophy, but at that time I was tense. I thought to put the ball into the top of the left corner and I missed, it went to the top bar". 

When we tried to talk to the winning coach, we had a surprise.

Ratnam without a Coach

"Ratnam has played the year 98 season without a coach" said the sports co-ordinater Desmond Joseph. He said that they were able to win three major tournaments the Mayor 's Cup, Bristol League and Super League Cup without a coach. Senior players as Lalith Weerasinghe, Mohamed Amanulla, Kapila Gunawardena, and some other experienced players are commanding the team. When he talked about the team he said,

" We didn't play with the experienced Amanulla and Lalith, we gave a chance to the upcoming youngsters. Most of the players representing the team are from the outstations, only four to six are from Colombo. Our Goalkeeper who replaced Lalith actually did well to win the trophy for us by saving two kicks . He was also selected for the under 23 Olympic pool," he said.

The team consists of players from the Under 19 Independent Cup Youth team, which won third place in the under 19 Independent Youth tournament held in Kandy.

Tournaments like this have to be played to improve our standards and keep the fans entertained. Both these teams are participating in the Gold Cup competition, which is to begin today. Sixteen teams are taking part in this.

Anyhow there is no doubt competitions like this will produce some skilled players to the nation and make a classy team in the future to match the Asian standards.

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