A young sports enthusiast

by Lakmal Welabada

"I prefer to associate with friends who like to help others," says Ashoda Panduka Kannangara, 17-year-old Royalist cricketer.

"It's difficult to find people like this, one should associate with both the good and the bad, and then should get closer to those whom you can assure 'good'," he stresses.

Panduka plays cricket for under 13 and 15 for Royal. At present he is mastering cricket under coach Jayantha Seneviratne at the Bloomfield Cricket Club. "I did swimming, athletics and gymnastics for sometime and had to stop it as I was quite busy with cricket. I've got the membership of the Bloomfield Under 19 team," he says. "I hope I will be able to represent Bloomfield in the divisional matches. But that would be after A/Ls," he laughs.

The young sportsman does a lot of literary work as well. He is the Assistant Editor of the Commercial journal of the school. "It's a bilingual publication out every three months," he says. "Whether I might continue to write through out my life or not is unpredictable as my desire lays with Marketing Management. It's versatile. I like to be multifaceted. Everybody cannot be an all rounder.

Whether I have the skill, I don't know. But I might try," he hopes. Panduka reads a lot. Mahathma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, S. Mahinda Thera and many other patriotic leaders of local and international fame have won his heart.

Panduka is involved in many societies and clubs at school. But more than everything he speaks about the musical band he hopes to form in the future. "I am going to form it with three of my friends, Pulasti, Passan and Erandika. We have already selected a name also for that, 'Detroside'.

It's the name of an American city," he claims. When asked if there is any especial meaning or reason behind the name 'Detroside', he claims 'none'. "We selected it as I wanted our band to be different from others," he says.

Watching TV news is his pastime. "I am very close to my family. My parents, my younger brother and I get together every evening and talk about the daily happenings. My father believes that all the members in every family should have dinner together. But we too love to watch TV (especially news) while dining," he laughs.

The young man has many hopes for the future. " Marketing is my line," he repeats. The marketing sector has already enticed me a lot. Whatsoever, I will do the relevant degree in order to strengthen myself with qualifications," he hopes.