Vithanage brothers - Sumudu, Shehan and Chamara outstanding sportsmen

by Upananda JAYASUNDERA - Kandy Sports Special Corr.

Good Sportsmen: Kingswood College has had a number of outstanding sportsmen from time to time during their long history.

Three of the brothers who have excelled in recent times are the Vithanage brothers Sumudu, Shehan and Chamara who have done their school proud by performing well in the sports that they have chosen to pursue.

The eldest of the trio-Sumudu was selected Best Sportsman of Kingswood College in 1991 for his outstanding performanced in Cricket, Boxing, Baseball, Football, Hockey and Table Tennis. Furthermore, he was the junior National Table Tennis Champion in 1989 and 1990 and he didn't stop at that. After leaving school, Sumudu carried his interest in sports further and was enlisted as a Sports Officer of the Kandy Municipal Council.

Then the middleman of the trio-Shehan. He excelled in Football, Hockey, Rugby Football, Boxing, Wrestling and Table Tennis.

After leaving school, Shehan was the Wrestling Champion at the Air Force during this stay at the Air Force between 1998 and 2003. In Boxing he was the Super Heavyweight champion at the Defence Services during that period of time.

As a Rugby Player, Shehan represented the Defence Services against Chinese Taipei in 2000 as a prop forward and he was awarded colours at the Air Force.

He left the Air Force and is presently attached to the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy as a sports officer.

Chamara - best sportsman 2000

The youngest of the trio and the possibly the most outstanding of them all is the youngest - Chamara. He was picked as the Best Sportsman at Kingswood in 2000 and when he was young, he won the under 9,11 and 13 Table Tennis titles at Junior Nationals.

As an athlete, he was the Discus Throw Champion in 1988. Then Chamara was keen on Baseball and he led the school under-16 team to victory at the All-Island Basketball Tournament in 1996.

That was not the end. In 1998 he was picked to represent Sri Lanka Schools Hockey Team on their tour of Malaysia as a goal-keeper, but by a stroke of ill luck, he could not make the trip.

In 2000, after leaving school, he joined the champion Kandy Sports Club for Rugby, and he represented the champion club till 2010. He also toured Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Chinese Taipei for seven-a-side tournaments and had the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka in the qualifying round match against Kazakhstan in 2003. He went a step further - in 2006 he represented Sri Lanka at Rugby at the Commonwealth Games.

With Rugby Football having caught his fancy, Chamara he put his heart and soul to the game and playing for Kandy Sports Club he was picked as the Best Player at the Caltex Trophy Rugby Football Tournament in 2006.

Then earlier in 2003, he was picked as the Best Player in the Mercantile Tournament in 2003 and 2004.

He is running his own company and still he is playing Rugby Football. He is now with Havelocks Sports Club and he played at the last Caltex Trophy match on August 14th against Kandy Sports Club at Nittawela.

In 2010, Chamara led Sri Lanka sevens team and beat South Korea for the first time at the Carlton Sevens held in Sri Lanka.