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| Sunday, 5 December 2004 |
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Sachitra Chaturanga : Cricket's his grand passion by Lakmal Welabada Sachitra Chathuranga Serasinghe is an all rounder in cricket who believes, talent will always have a place and nothing could stop his or her success. Sachitra was playing cricket for Henry Olcott Vidyalaya, Kolonnawa when he became the under 13 All Island Best Player. His cricketing talent opened doors at popular schools in Colombo; first Asoka Vidyalaya; and after sometime Nalanda College. Nalanda's cricket pitch brought the youngster more luck and success. In 2002, Sachitra played for Sri Lanka in the Under-15 Asia Cup Tournament, held in Dubai. "We won the runners-up trophy and in Pakistan he won the tournament," he says with a smile. He also represented the under 17 Sri Lankan team for the Asia Cup held in India in 2003. "There we came into the semi finals," he reminisced. The young cricketer is now aiming for a place in the under 19 squad for the World Cup series which will be held in 2006. Nalanda College won the Lemonade Six-a-side Trophy this year in which Sachitra was adjudged the Best All Rounder of the series. "About 16 schools took part in it and we defeated St. Josephs College in the finals," he said. The 17-year-old is a devoted cricketer. He gets little time for anything else during school hours, his time is spent on cricket. "We have practices both at the Nalanda grounds and at the Cricket Board in the evening all five days of the week. We go home around 8 or 9 in the night. I keep my weekends to go for my tuition classes," he says enthusiatically. Cricket seems to be everything to him. "The Cricket Board doesn't provide us opportunity only for cricket, but also gives us guidelines for better living, especially to associate with people. It really helps us to lead a refined and professional life as cricketers," he says. Sachitra prefers to introduce himself as a down-to-earth simple person who does not have dreams, but aims for a constructive future. He is grateful to all his cricket coaches, principals and all the teachers who backed him to reach the top. Sachitra has only one older sister. His mother works abroad as a Production Manager at a garment factory. Hence his father, Nihal Serasinghe has a dual role to play. "My father was a school level cricket player. It was he who guided me in everything. I am really grateful to him," says Sachitra. Whenever he is free from 'cricket', Sachitra loves to listen to low key music. Sinhala, Economics and Political Science are the subjects he is offing for his A/Ls. Other than playing cricket for the National team, his ambition is to become a banker. Sachitra likes peer association as most other teenagers do. But, he says he is careful with whatever he does as he is concerned about his family as well as his future as a cricketer. The Under-15 Asia Cup Tournament held in Dubai in 2002 was one of the precious moments in his memory as all his family members were sitting together at the pavilion watching him play for Sri Lanka. "Amma works in Dubai. So she could also come to see the match. And it was memorable," he says. "Be a professional cricketer, and lead a humble and 'good' life is my aim," he concludes. |
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