Sunday Observer has contributed much for sports

The Sunday Observer Sports Desk is brimming with confidence as experienced hands are involved in the production of the sports pages.

Though it is only on a Sunday that the paper comes out on to the news stands, the work involved is quite heavy as we are determined each week to bring out a paper with the latest information so that the confidence that the sports enthusiasts have in the paper is not diminished.

I am privileged to be associated with the paper for the last 38 years, having come on to the permanent staff of the paper on 1st February 1969.

Before I proceed further, I will be failing in my duty if I do not mention the name of one of our former Editors' the late Mr. Denzil Peiris who was one gentlemen in the good old days of the paper (we then had the Daily Observer with two editions) who gave sports a tremendous boost by his bold decision of giving sports a fairly big spread even on page one of the paper on important occasions.

International cricket matches and even big inter-school cricket matches like the Royal-Thomian cricket match got page one publicity with big pictures and wide coverage of the event. The Daily Observer and Sunday Observer sold fast on those days on account of sports.

The trend set by the late Denzil Peiris to give sports its due place in the paper caught on rapidly and the Sunday Observer continues to be a paper that caters to the sports conscious public of the country.

Though the Sunday Observer is produced just on one day of the week there is a whole lot of work that is involved in bringing out the paper on a Sunday.

Having started as a 'stringer' in the Daily News in 1966, I came on the staff on a permanent basis on February 1 in 1969 and covered many sports, viz: Cricket, Swimming, Rugby Football, Track and Field to name the special sports that held the readers' attention in those early days.

I had the privilege of covering cricket, both the under 19 age group and Test cricket abroad, and in swimming there was the Indo-Ceylon Swimming Meet both here and in India that caught the fancy of the sports fans.

Lal Gunasekera - the present Sports Editor of the Sunday Observer first started in the Daily News in 1973 as a staff reporter under the late Christie Seneviratne - the Sports Editor of the Daily News then.

He is still involved in the active coverage of sports new, with Tennis, Rugby Football and Golf being his specialities. He has been to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh on sporting assignments, and also to England for the Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Ranjan Anandappa came on to the staff of the Observer in February 1989 and his speciality has been school cricket. He has toured many countries with cricket teams - in 1993 he was in Malaysia with the under 19 cricket team and that under 19 team of Sri Lanka had players in the calibre of Chaminda Vaas and Mahela Jayewardene while Gamini Perera - the former Royalist cricketer was captain of the team.

He was in Sharjah for the Australia Cup in 1994, then to Pakistan in 1995 when Ranatunga was captain and in 1997 again to Pakistan for the triangular series. Then the 2002 under 19 World Cup too was one series that Anandappa 'covered' and he also covered the 2002 South African Test series.

We then have the never-say-die sportsman and willing worker Leslie Fernando. Being in the Municipality, Leslie Fernando had the advantage of knowing many sports personalities.

He is the oldest sports correspondent in the Sunday Observer with 49 trips abroad for swimming, soccer and South Asian Games and has been to many countries too.

A.C. de Silva, Deputy Editor - Sports