A golden tribute paid to late Dr. K.B. Sangakkara for all good work done

by Hafiz Marikar

Whilst recognizing the yeoman services rendered to Trinity College as rugby coach in 1958 and Kandy Sports Club as player, coach and President, its once again time to pay a glowing tribute to Late Dr. K.B. Sangakkara one of the finest sportsmen to come out of Kandy, he was educated at Trinity College where he excelled in cricket and rugger, and was a senior prefect and Ryde Gold Medalist in 1928, the highest award to a student at Trinity College.

He first played rugger in 1927 under P. Ramanathan, that year their was no rugger at Royal and this match was not played, and their only game was against Zahira College, which Trinity won 23-9, then in 1928 he played under Kin Manung, and the rest of his team mates were P. Rajaratnam, C.D. Bultjens, E.R de Silva, S.A Odayar, Khin Manng, J Duff Tytler, S.M. Manikkarajah, J.D. Duncan, A.H.N. Jirasinghe, V. Sabapathy, N. Wijesundara, R. Udugama, N. Madena, A.H.N. Welikala, that year they beat Royal College led by H.S. Roberts by 23 points to 6, and Zahira College by 29 points to 9.

At cricket, he was a fine bowler and played in the years 1927 and 1928. Against St. Josephs he pocketed 5 for 56 in 1928. After leaving school while he was studying medicine played Cricket of the University and also took up hokey.

He also played for the Doctors team in their friendly matches.

Later played for Kandy Sports Club as a crack wing three quarter, and was with the team for many years as a player, coach, committee member and President. He also represented the Up-Country and All Ceylon team during that time known as Ceylonese Rugby Union.

Sangakkara great coach

He was a fine coach, and was there to give a hand to any coach, he helped the Trinity coach in 1953, 1954 and 1956 and also in 1958 as head coach.

For his great services, the 1956 Trinity captain David Frank in his rugby report, had said, interalia, "The Gigantic victory of this year's team, makes our thanks to Dr. K.B. Sangakkara almost inexpressible. His coaching and encouragement right thought the season influenced our teams success in no small way, he also says we also extend our gratitude to Bertie Dias the then coach.

He, refereed the first Bradby's, second leg game over here n Kandy, which Trinity won 6-0, after losing the first leg in Colombo 0-3, the first leg was refereed by a Royalist Sydney G de Zoysa, in the good old days there was no problems for referees even the coach of the team has refereed, which means Royal Coach had refereed, same way Trinity coach also has refereed.

He was President of Kandy Sports Club in 1962 and 1963, and also one time, the President of the SLRFU then known as CRFU.

He was the man who incited the move to amalgamate, Kandy Sport s Club and Kandy Lake Club, then known as Kandy RFC, he is the one who called E.W. Balasuriya and Dr. S. Nadasen together and wanted them to join hands and play as one team, as Lake Club founded by late E.W. Balasuriya, a club which went places in the rugby field, was band from playing as a club as they were branded as a professional club later E.W. Balasuriya formed the Kandy RFC and after both teams amalgamated under Kandy Sports Club Shirt and short, with Kandy RFC's stocking, that came in 1975, Iswan Omar was the first to lead Kandy Sports Club, from Kandy RFC and he guided the team to the Clifford Cup semifinals and lost in the extra time, in darkness due to scrum half Nimal Malgamuwa was spotted off side in the white jersey by referee Mohan Sahayam against Sri Lanka Air Force played at Havelock Park.

Many stalwarts helped KSC

Kandy Sports Club (KSC) that talks of a history of nearly 137 years, has had a very long and a hard journey over the years in reaching this height and in the process it was stalwarts like Dr. K.B. Sangakkara, Stanley Martin, Chandra Wijenayake, E.W. Balassuriya, Dr. C.D.L. Ferenando, Dr. John Karunaratne, Dr. Sarath Kapuwatte who rendered a tremendous service to keep rugby at Kandy Sports Club alive, particularly during those difficult times.

In addition to them, the name Malik Samarawickrama will be written in either of gold for their priceless contribution towards the club.

He gave the heart and soul and toiled for the club to keep it active in the past.

Kandy Sports Club was founded in 1874 by a group expatriate coffee planters and others working in the plantations in and around Kandy, as the Kandy Athletic, Boating, Cricket, Football and Dancing later the name was changed to Kandy Sport Club.Dr. K.B. Sangakkara, gave his best for cricket, at Kandy Sports Club, he played for many years along with the Europeans and also had the privilege of playing for the Central Province against visiting teams.

He later served in the Committee of Central Province Cricket Association and gave a hand he also played along with S.A. Odayar for the Dr. John Rockwoods Public Schools XI against Maharaja Kumar of Vizianagrams team in hand.

Dr. K.B. Sangakkara is no more, but the people who knew his sportsmanship and quality in the field of sports will never ever forget him.