It was a red letter day for Carrom players in Sri Lanka as the first ever Carrom Academy was declared open last Sunday (May 5) at Welipillewa, Ganemulla.
Three former players Dhammika Wijesinghe, Lalith Hewage and Upali Perera joined forces to open this Carrom Acedamy that will benefit the players immensely.
Wijesinghe who is also a qualified coach said they started this Academy to assist the National Carrom Federation.
“I think this Academy is new to Sri Lanka. We started this not to make profits,” said Wijesinghe.
Parakrama Basnayake the President of the Carrom Federation and President of the Paralympic Committee Major General Rajitha Ampemohotty were the honoured guests at the opening ceremony. To mark the event national players Nishantha Fernando, Chalani Liyanage, Basnayake and Major General Ampemohotty played an exhibition game.
With Sri Lanka having won the World Championship and the World Team Championship this sport has become very popular.
“Our vision is to uplift the standard of the next generation. The three coaches are well experienced and possess the capability to develop world class players. Our Academy is complete with A/C which is not available even at the Federation,” noted Wijesinghe.
“We will be conducting three types of courses. The first course for beginners is three types and consist of 50 hours of playing time. We will also conduct inter-mediate course for lowly ranked players which consist of 50 hours.
“In addition the higher ranked players will get more lessons to reach higher standards. We are confident the players will benefit immensely,” added head coach Wijesinghe who has produced several ranked players of international level.
Players can become members of the Academy and obtain the services of coaches. Their charges are affordable as this academy is not a profit making one according to the promoters. They are open from 2 pm to 8 pm on week days and from 8 am to 8 pm on weekends.
“Carrom was famous at funeral houses those days, but today we are proud to say that we are World Champions,” said Wijesinghe.
Lalith Hewage was a veterans’ champion and was involved in this sport for over 20 years. He was a former Vice President of the Federation and keen to uplift the game.
Upali Perera who is a very good coach of schoolchildren said that they opened this Academy in the Gampaha district and would like to see one open in very district.