Staging Singer Asiad in Colombo was a big achievement, says Lewke

by Lal Gunesekera

RUGBY: Staging the Singer Asiad in Colombo last November was not only a pride for us all and managing to get most of the teams in Asia was an achievement. Sri Lanka reached the final since 1974 and I congratulate all the players as well as the officials involved in the team management for this achievement.

This was stated by the President of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU), DIG Nimal Lewke, who also heads the elite Special Task Force (STF) of the Police, at a ceremony held on Friday night at the Bayleaf Restaurant to felicitate the Sri Lanka team numbering 23 players. Each player received Rs. 50,000/= totalling Rs. 11,50,000/= from the SLRFU in recognition of their performance.

He said that the Council of the SLRFU were happy with the performance of the Sri Lanka team at the Singer Asiad and even the Sri Lanka 7's team who virtually had an opportunity of winning the Singer-SriLankan Airlines International 7's at Nittawela and ended up as No. 3 in the tournament.

DIG Lewke further said that he was happy about the way the local tournaments were conducted and thanked all their sponsors (Singer, Caltex etc) for all their support and in particular Kishu Gomes (CEO of Caltex Lubricants) and Hemaka Amarasuriya (Chairman of Singer). He said: No sport will progress without sponsors and hope that our sponsors will continue with us in the future too.

A former President of the SLRFU who is presently one of the Life Members of the governing body, Malik Samarawickrema, speaking on the occasion congratulated the SLRFU for organising this felicitation ceremony to recognise the players, who were a "forgotten lot" for some years after they completed a season.

He went on to say that the game belongs to the players and no one else and congratulated the national players for their performance at the Singer Asiad which they could have won beating Kazakastan in the final. This was one of the most talented sides.

Samarawickreme also thanked all the sponsors for their continued support and he too said that the game cannot survive without the help of sponsors.

"But where do we go from here? True we were the runners-up at the Singer Asiad, but we are not No. 2 in Asia. Let us realise where we stand and get to No. 3 spot which can be achieved.

We have the players, particularly the backs. Its not easy, but the SLRFU must come up with a five-year plan as was dome under the Presidency of Y. C. Chang. We had regular tours to Hong Kong and Taiwan and were well prepared for the Asiad when it was held here. Its not good to expect too much from the players always" said Samarawickreme.

Deputy President Asanga Seneviratne who proposed the vote of thanks said that though the standards had improved, spectator interest had declined. He further said that the fourthcoming Hong Kong International 7's in March was very important to Sri Lanka, who must work hard in getting invited again for the Dubai International 7's and South Africa International 7's. He too thanked the sponsors.

The 23-member Sri Lanka team that were felicitated were - Jeewa Galgamuwa (captain), Shamil Mohamed, Kishore Jehan, Senthil Kumar, Achala Perera, Senaka Bandara, Sumedha Jayasinghe, Ashen Karthelis, Dushantha Lewke, Imran Bisthamin, Sumedha Malewana, Kasun de Silva, Amjad Buksh, Saliya Kumara, Fazil Marija, Ashan de Costa, Lasitha de Costa, Niroshan Karunanayake, Lakala Perera, Sanjeewa Jayasinghe, Raddhika Hettiarachchi, Dinuk de S. Weeraratne and Avantha Hettiarachchi.