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| Sunday, 24 October 2004 |
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Carrom boss Jayasinghe determined to make Sri Lanka No.1 by LESLIE FERNANDO Sri Lanka slicers will have the benefit of star Indian coach, Suhash Kambli who will be here by January next year to coach our carromites, said Mervyn Jayasinghe, President of the Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka (CFSL) in an interview with the Sunday Observer. The carrom boss Jayasinghe who is going on his third term as the President was thankful to S. K. Sharma, Secretary-General, International Carrom Federation for his fine gesture in providing Sri Lanka with a top coach from India. The matter was discussed during the 4th World Carrom Championships concluded recently in Colombo. "We have been able to maintain second position on most occasions. It is therefore our aim to become number one soon," he said Jayasinghe said that our carrom players, mainly men, performed adequately and came a close second to India where carrom originated. But the women's performance was very poor. Prior to the visit of the Indian coach, the CFSL has planned to conduct carrom tournaments for juniors at zonal and district levels and will pick 20 to 30 young players to be included into a pool. Our women players like Amitha, Nayana, Leela and Kalyani will be appointed as district coaches to train our young players until the arrival of the Indian coach. Our coaches will also be trained by the Indian coach. Jayasinghe, together with Rohini Mathiasz, Langley Mathiasz and the CFSL committee member came in for high praise from the officials of the International Carrom Federation, Asian Carrom Federation and the representatives from other countries for the success of hosting and conducting the World Carrom Championship. The championships were originally allotted to the Malaysian Carrom Federation but due to unavoidable circumstances the venue of the championships were shifted to Sri Lanka. Jayasinghe said that it was a tough task of conducting the championships as a lot of money was required. But the officials worked hard to make the tournament a great success. First the Finance and Guarantee Co. Ltd. pumped in half a million rupees and then National Savings Bank donated a generous sum of one million rupees and the Sports Ministry provided one million rupees. There were also other co-sponsors who helped the Carrom Federation 'A very big thank you' to every one for their great assistance", said Jayasinghe. The Carrom boss said that his love was hockey, but took a great liking to carrom after joining Ceylinco Group. He started his early education at Dharmadutha College Badulla and after his early education, joined Dharmaraja College Kandy where he excelled in hockey. Jayasinghe played hockey for Badulla District and Kandy District. He was also a good tennis, table tennis and badminton player. After leaving school, he became a teacher then a journalist (covering news for Times and Daily Mirror). He got a big break when Deshamanya Lalith Kothelawala who approached Jayasinghe on official visit to Badulla offered him a key position in the Ceylinco Group. Jayasinghe, with hard and dedicated service, has reached one of the highest positions in Ceylinco Consolidated. Jayasinghe is the Deputy Chairman, The Finance and Guarantee Co. Ltd. Jayasinghe who is also in the executive committee of the International Carrom Federation and Asian Carrom Federation has plans to improve the standard of carrom in Sri Lanka and to beat the closest rivals India to become world champions in the near future. Meanwhile Carrom Federation of Sri Lanka who successfully conducted the 4th world carrom championships recently have decided to hold the President's Cup Carrom Tournament on November 20 at the CFSL headquarters, Colombo 7. The events to be worked off are men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles and women's doubles. Entry forms could be obtained from Mrs. Rohini Mathiasz, General Secretary. CFSL, 228/5, Hill Street, Dehiwela (Tel: 2725896) or Jagath Suraweera, Tournament Secretary, CFSL, 19/3, Temple Road, Attidiya. (Tel: 2761422) Entries will close on November 5 and the draw will be on November 6 at the CFSL headquarters. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
