Squash players out to give fine displays

Sri Lanka squash team which consists of individual players who are among the first ten men ranked players of Asia in Squash, is certain to put up a better performance at the 10th edition of the South Asian Games to be held from August 18 to 25 at the newly built Squash Courts at Gymkhana Club, Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7.

Anthonisz President, SLSF added that two of our best players Navin Samarasinghe is presently in Australia training under Roger Flynn' world ranked squash coach and Saman Thilakaratne training in France.

Both these players will join the other six players Anura Hewage, Eranga Alwis (men), Nirasha Guruge, Tehani Guruge, Vidushi Gurunanda and Kaushali Daluwatte (women) for training. Presently the six squash players are undergoing training under international reputed coach Jamshed Gul Khan from Pakistan, a world number 14 in his day. He has been recruited to train our players and trainers in preparation for the forthcoming South Asian Games.

The eight players were selected after a series of trials by the national selectors Navin Piyatissa, Tony Direckze, Malaka Talwatta, Sanjeev Vairawanathan.

The squash players have had a lot of foreign participation this year. They have performed extremely well at the Asian Senior Squash Championships in Chinese Taipei, Commonwealth Games in Australia, Penang Junior Open Championships, Milo Malaysia Junior Open Championships and Asian Junior Individual Championships, said Anthonisz.

The squash players began training from last August under Yasmin Zarook with 16 players and the pool was pruned down to ten and finally the best 8 players were selected.

This will be the first time that Squash will be played at the new squash court at Gymkhana Club. The venue has been redeveloped and upgraded to international standard.

Sri Lanka medal tally at 2004 SAG in Islamabad, Pakistan two bronze medals for men and women team event. Pakistan and India emerged men and women champions respectively at the team events. Manzeer Zaman of Pakistan won the men's individuals championship while Jeshna Chinnappa of India became women's champion.

Four gold medals are on offer for 2006 games and India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka will battle-it-out in both team individual events. Last time in Islamabad, Nepal did not have a women's team.

Anthonisz added that the vision of the Sri Lanka Squash Federation is to promote the game of squash not only in Colombo and its environs but to take the game to the outstations with the main aim of harnessing the hidden talent in the country with the prime intention of further developing the game. Since of late, squash has taken an upward trend in Sri Lanka, where more and more sports enthusiasts have taken a keen interest to play the game.

Many leading schools, hotels and sports clubs have taken an active role in the promotion of the game but due to various reasons the game has only been popularized in the Western Province and in and around the city of Colombo.

The SLSF has continued to be active in promoting and encouraging the sport. One of its success was the performances of the junior women players of Sri Lanka. One of the primary goals of the SLSF is to take the sport to the outstation and identify new talent. In addition, it is planned to organise games in outstation city centres as well as to bring players from outstation to Colombo for competitions.

The SLSF also plans organising tournaments in outstations that will encourage and promote the game nationwide. This goal is retarded because of the lack of courts outstation. Secondly if players are brought to Colombo, the SLSF is hindered by its inability to host these players due to the lack of residential facilities giving rise to the conclusion that the need for headquarters and a training centre being important at this juncture.

However, first and foremost need of the hour for the SLSF is to construct a National Squash Complex which would provide facilities for people of all walks of life to utilize its services. Although SLSF has been in existence for the last 25 years, a major drawback encountered in the development of the sport is the non-availability of a 'HOME' which has somewhat retarded the progress of the game and blocked the less affluent from participating in the game of squash.

Anthonisz further said that the SLSF is currently appealing to generous donors for funds to construct a building that will function as their headquarters and training centre.

"We are in dialogue with the Ministry of Sports and have appealed for suitable land for this purpose. Based on their positive response, we are currently in the process of identifying suitable land." added Anthonisz.

Finally Anthonisz said that the forthcoming South Asian Games would no doubt generate lot of publicity in the region and help popularise the game.