Trinity, Kingswood for Cup
The second round of the inter school League rugby Cup championship is scheduled to kick off from May 11 with eight schools having qualified of which two are from Kandy. The two schools are Trintiy College and Kingswood College.
The two schools that failed to qualify for the Cup competition are St. Anthony’s College and Dharmaraja College who will now play in the Plate competition.
Questions have also been raised on the treatment meted out to some other schools that play rugby in Kandy. These schools have no proper grounds for practices and the fees they have to pay for a ground for a match has skyrocketed.
This has only discouraged a number of supporters and players. Kingswood out of their five games won three and lost two, Trinity out of five won two and lost three, St. Anthony’s lost all five qualifying matches and Dharmaraja lost all four games.
In the lower division Vidyartha out of five matches won four and lost one while St. Sylvester’s played four winning two and losing two.
Sri Sumangala (earlier St. Paul’s) played four and won four while Sri Rahula played three and won three.
The Cup competition edition fixtures are Kingswood College vs Isipathana College in Kandy, Trinity College vs St. Peter’s College at Pallekelle , Kingswood College vs St. Peter’s College in Kandy, Trinity College vs Isipathana College at Havelock Park, Kingswood College vs Zahira in Kandy, Trinity College vs Wesley College in Pallekelle, Kingswood College vs Wesley College at Longden Place, Trinity College vs Zahira College at Pallekelle.
Kandy Police cricket Sixes
The 2018 Kandy Police Division cricket Sixes was the first edition that took place at Police Ground matting wicket last Saturday and Sunday. The tournament was won by Kandy Police who defeated Kennels Division in the final. A big hand should be given to SSP Division Sisira Kumara and the rest for organizing this tournament in a fitting manner while special thanks should go to the sports OIC IP Susantha Kumara whose part was excellent.
In this tournament the games were played between two teams of six players and each game consisted of a maximum of five six-ball overs bowled by each side. Each member of the fielding side bowled one over, with the exception of the wicket-keeper. It was a perfect day for some sporting action. In fact, it was time for the biggest six-a-side tournament, over here in Kandy after a long spell.
Kandy Police on the way to the final were able to beat Welamboda Police by 65 runs. Then the other finalist Kennels beat Hasalaka by five runs. In the final Kandy Police beat Kennels by 46 runs. Kandy Police batting first made 67 for the loss of four wickets in five overs and in reply Kennels were 21 for 5 in five overs.
FFSL officials doing what?
Three of the paid officials of the Football Federation were seen in Kandy last Saturday (April 28). They had a meeting at a hotel along Dalada Veediya where they met officials of some of the football clubs to discuss Kandy’s football future. Kandy is a place that has buried football for the past so many years due to poor or no administration. The 2017 AGM is yet to be held besides 2018.
For the last two years no inter club tournaments were held and it appears that only now has the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) realised their failures. All this was due to no proper people in the Kandy FL holding office and the poor administration of the FFSL. When there is something to do with football, a person form Gampola has made football his job and one or two of his friends come from Colombo to have secret meetings and mess up affairs. During the time of Manial Fernado’s FFSL administration, Kandy football was at its best and today it is in the funeral parlor.
KDHA to revive hockey
Hockey in Kandy dates as far back as 1907 when the Indian Rajput Regiments occupied the Kandy Military Barracks, currently known as Police Ground. It is said that the first “Bully Off” in Kandy was in 1907 at the Bogambara Ground, when the two clubs Kandy Sports Club and Industrial School Team met.
Then the game went into slumber. Once again in 1926, Kandy Sports Club started a tournament and special mention must be made of John Jackson Smale, Harmer, Trailm Mclaughlanm, the Bengan brothers B and R, the Trinity master K.R. Pilcher (Oxford Blue) and Strefield (English County player).
Then in the 1930s, the game came to the right place, when P.T. Rajan stepped in to re-introduce the game to the schools and clubs. By 1940, hockey in Kandy was well organized with local tournaments in full swing. Today most of the school girls and boys are doing well in hockey. The president of KDHA R. Meshwaran together with his team are re-organising to bring back the game
Kandy referees in final
Six members of the Sri Lanka Society of Rugby Football Referees attended the Singapore Rugby Asian Region Referees’ Workshop and World Rugby Courses which took place in April.
After the training four referees were selected to officiate in the annual Midnight 10s tournament. Following a successful first round, Dilum Deeshana a product of Vidyartha College Kandy and Romario de Silva were assigned for the Cup and Plate final respectively.
The six members who made this tour were Dilum Deshana, Romario de Silva, Jehan Yatawara, Thilina Ratnayake, Isuru Perera and A. Rankothge.
Hockey good, organizing poor
Today the final of the third six-a-side girls and boys PT Rajan schools hockey tournament will take place at the PT Rajan ground at Mahiyawa. Today’s final will be graced by Mayor Kessara Senanayake and the late Rajan’ss family members. Sun match company came forward as sponsors of the trophies and medals.
It was good hockey presented by the participants from Kandy schools but the organizers, the Playgrounds Department of the Municipal Council should have done a better job. According to parents of players the facilities at the grounds were appalling.
Kotmale Hill Climb
All roads will lead to Kotmale on June 22 and 23 for the Kotmale Speed Hill Climb organized by the Senkadagala Motor Sports Club. The President of the SMSC Thusith de Silva and his committee members are working tirelessly to make the event a success. According to one of their members John Baskern, they are expecting over 75 entries for both cars and motorcycle events.
The venue will be the famous Chaitiya Road track in Kotmale, which is of the main access roads to the Kotmale Hydro Power Station. It is a kilometer in length with eight left-handed and six right-handed corners and a minimum width of three meters and climbs rather steep between the start and the finish. More information could be obtained by calling 0777807777 or 0777843655.