Sajeev most promising oarsman in Sri Lanka

By Leslie FERNANDO

ROWING: Here's champion in rowing. Sajeev de Silva of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia rowing captain. He is one of the most promising oarsmen in the country and has several records to his credit in the past four years.

He is a veteran at S. Thomas', in the school for 14 years now and has just completed his GCE Advanced Level Examination. Having taken to rowing at the age of 11 years, just to 'try my luck at an exciting sport' as he put it, Sajeev de Silva has now become somewhat a veteran at the sport and cannot just be kept out of it.

"It was my father who taught me the basics of rowing and once I grasped the fundamentals, I liked the sport a great deal. Earlier, I did Scuba Diving and was involved in Rifle Shooting, but I gave rowing a try and it caught my fancy right away." said Sajeev.

Lusantha de Silva is his father's name and he rowed for S. Thomas' in 1983 and 1984. So, it was no wonder that young Sajeev took to rowing in a big way with the encouragement given by his father. For his outstanding performances in the 2009-2010 season Sajeeve de Silva has been selected to row at the Asian Games to be held in Guangshou, China from November 12 to 27. The best single sculler Sajeev will row in his pet event at the Asian Games.

At the recently concluded Asian Schools Rowing Association International Regatta held at the Rowing Center, Chennai, India the Thomians came to the fore. Leading from the front was skipper Sajeev de Silva whose calculated moves helped him to catch the eye of the other competitors.

He snapped gold in the senior scull single, besides anchoring the Thomians to coxed-four Gold, boosting their tally to three golds and a bronze. In fact the Thomian Juniors also won a gold. The Thomians won the overall titles in the senior and Junior categories and received the UNIFI Overall Challenge Cup. The regatta in Chennai, Sajeev says was an experience. It was also a chance for the boys to work as a team.

"We won the event mainly due to team effort. This was evident, comparing with the other teams from Pakistan, India, Abu Dhabi and Japan. They were very good but I think we were better and our confidence took us to victory." said Sajeev.

He started rowing at the age of 11 years and he participated in the Colombo Rowing Club conducted Vanlangernberg Novices 'Pairs' in 2006 at the age of 14 years and emerged champion.

He was supposed to take part in the Coxed Fours at the 2006 Royal - Thomian Regatta, but it was postponed.

His first Royal - Thomian Regatta was in 2008 and went on to achieve success in the 'A' Sculls, 'A' Pairs and 'B' Fours. At international level, Sajeev has performed exceptionally well. As a schoolboy, he won the silver in the under-16 fours event. He has participated in the prestigious Madras-Colombo Regatta in 2008, 2009, 2010 and won the single scull events.

For two successive years, Sajeev has been taking part in the ASRA Regattas in Chennai, India and has proved his class, winning the single sculls and coxed four events.

On both occasions. Sajeev who is also the most experienced, shows a lot of maturity when it comes to the sport and the motto adapted by him is that 'Anything that moves in the water is the enemy, and Sajeev has instilled this into his teammates."It is very tough. One has to be fit, both mentally and physically. The training is tough, but it pays. The regatta in Chennai was an experience.

Answering a question on training for Asian Games, Sajeev said that his coach has made a plan for training for the Asian Games, but at the same time he will not forget about the Royal-Thomian Regatta scheduled for October and then National Rowing Championships to be held shortly at Bolgoda in September.