|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 18 May 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Singer sponsors glamour boys Kandy SC again by S. M. JIFFREY ABDEEN Kandy Sports Corr. Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited will once again sponsor the glamour boys of the local rugby scene - Kandy Sports Club according to the Secretary of the Kandy Sports Club former Kandy Sports Club captain Trinity 'Lion' and Sri Lanka flanker Iswan Omar. Kandy Sports Club are the reigning Caltex League 'A' Division and Caltex Clifford Cup knock-out champions in addition to winning the inter-club Rugby Sevens and would have won a fourth title had they participated in the Presidents Trophy knock-out tournament which they opted to keep out, as they felt the season was too strenuous and demanding on the players and also to allow the opportunity for other clubs to win a trophy-in true Kandyan fashion. Kandy Sports Club have won so many trophies since they came out as a force to be reckoned with the advent of that dynamic personality - the present Chairman of the UNP Malik Samarawickrema in 1992. Since then they have grabbed so many trophies, that their sponsors Singer (Sri Lanka) Limited through their Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya have donated a special cupboard to store the trophies. But soon this cupboard too, will be full. It must be recalled that over ten years ago Kandy Sports Club just one of these Upcountry clubs which was fighting a losing battle for survival playing in the Premier League tournaments. The other clubs like Kelani Valley, Dickoya, Dimbula and Uva had given up due to financial constraints and the inability to field a side worthy of playing in top division due to lack of talent as hardly rugby was being played in schools at that time to serve as a nursery. It was during that period in 1992 that, Malik Samarawickrema came over to Kandy to give rugby in the hill capital a new dimension. Also immediately he transformed the once 'also ran' Kandy Sports Club into a match winning combination and also best rugby playing club in the island. When the history of Kandy Sports Club is written, the contribution of Malik Samarawickrema to this 130 year-old club will be written in letters of gold he had done so much for the club of uplift its standards as a winning team as well as the infrastructure which could boast of two of the best pavilions in a rugby stadium in the island. One wonders what would have been the final results had he come over to Kandy, a decade earlier and there is no doubt that he would have made Kandy SC another 'Twickenham' and one of the pavilions had been constructed in the style of that hallowed institution of rugby. Singer and its Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya have always helped to promote rugby in the hill capital. Apart from sponsoring Kandy SC, they have also played a major role along with SriLankan Airlines and Connaissance de Ceylan Limited in organising the annual International Rugby Sevens in which 16 national teams participate every year in Kandy - A rugby carnival. Former Vice President of the Kandy SC, Chairman Rugby Committee and Trinity's Rugby 'Lion' D. Sivasubramaniam after a brief lay off has come back in a big way in Kandy's scrum by sponsoring the foreign player of West Samoan born New Zealand resident Ifets Tema. D. Sivasubramaniam also played for Kandy SC as a prop forward in the eighties and had made immense contribution to Kandy SC in various capacities. His come back to the mainstream of the club's rugby will be an asset. Kandy's other foreign player and coach Tavita Tulagese is sponsored by a sports benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous. There is some good news for rugby fans in the hill capital, that Kandy Sports Club is likely to get another foreign player for the current season, probably a forward. Kandy is going 'great guns' this season, they have already topped the century mark in the two matches, they have played beating Kurunegala Rugby Football Club 172-0 which is a record in the local rugby scene. Next they beat Kandy Youth Sports Club by 100 - 5. Thus they have scored 272 points in two matches averaging 136 points per match. So watch out for a third century by Kandy today. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
