Upali Hewage appointed to National Sports Council

NATIONAL SPORTS COUNCIL: Upali Hewage who recently retired as Deputy Inspector General of Police after a 38-year unblemished stint, was recently appointed to the National Sports Council.

Upali had an outstanding school career at Thurstan College, captaining the Rugby team in 1968, playing in the company of players like Sunil Jayakody, Mangala Rathnayake, Tissa Nanayakkara, Wasantha Perera, Rohan Boudweyn and the late Diyanesh Rajaratnam. He was the athletic captain and Sergeant of the Senior Cadet Platoon.

Rugby was Upali Hewage's favourite sport and after his school career, he served Thurstan as the rugby co-ordinator for nearly three decades, thereby playing an active role in developing the rugby at school. Even while serving in the conflict areas like Trincomalee and Batticaloa, he kept close touch with Thurstan rugby. He had the good fortune to see Thurstan annexing President's Cup in rugby for the first time in 1966, putting down many to teams in the process. He was also the Vice-President of Thurstan Rugby Football Club that administers the game at Thurstan. He has also undertaken the supervision of the development of the new Rugby Stadium Complex at the Racecourse, which was initiated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was also a former student of Thurstan College.

Upali kept his sporting interests alive from the day he joined the Police and kept a keen interest in promoting sports. He was responsible in redeveloping the D. A. Rajapakse Stadium in Beliatte and Mahinda Rajapakse Stadium in Tangalle on the instruction of the President. Currently he serves as the Vice-President of the government Service Sports Association.