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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Sports |  |
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Piyatissa - the soccer star coaching in the backwood of Kandy by Upananda Jayasundera, Kandy Sports Special Corr. G. S. Piyatissa, the evergreen soccer player and coach represented Sri Lanka from 1966 to 1969 after captaining Dharmaraja College Soccer team in 1963. Piyatissa also represented Kandy District team as inside-left and represented Sri Lanka as a left extreme. His captain was P. D. Sirisena and his contemporaries were S. M. Noor; Edward Wickramasuriya, Mahinda Aluwihare and Lionel Peiris (Goal Keeper) to name a few. At Dharmaraja College, his teammates were S. U. Mendis, Daya Jayasundera, Asoka Tennakoon, G. S. Ratnayake, M. Marikkar, V. S. B. Imbuldeniya, 'Johotha' Silva, Justin Kurukulasuriya, Daya Weerasinghe and Newton Weerasinghe. In 1970 he went to Germany where he followed a six months soccer coaching course at Sports High School. Cologne, Germany. He also played for Bruchsal FC for one year. From Germany, he went to Sweden in 1973 and represented Lidingo FC as a player cum coach for 15 years. Every year he used to come to Sri Lanka with a bag full of soccer balls to be presented to his alma mata Dharmaraja College, and to Madhyamalanka and Sunrise soccer clubs. When he came on vacation for a few months, he also coached Madhyamalanka and Sunrise SC and produced national soccer caps like Diamond Seneviratne and Rasa from Kandy. At 5 ft. 3 inches, he may be the shortest player to win a national cap. During his career as a Sri Lankan 'cap' from 1966 to 1970, he represented Sri Lanka against Burma National Team, Pakistan Army team, Singapore Services, Red Star Switzerland and also Russian side. Piyatissa came back to Sri Lanka in 2004 and is coaching rural boys from Deiyannewela, Katukelle, Dharmaraja and Lewella Nawa Lanka Sports Club. |
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