Sri Lanka's U.16 soccerites off to SAF Games tourney in Nepal

Under 16 soccer team in Nepal.... Sri Lanka under 16 football team are participating in the SAF under 16 soccer championship which will commence over the weekend in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Sri Lanka team will be led by A. K. Ranju Silva of De Mazenod College, Kandana. In the picture front row seated from left: Jude S Karunaratne (Goal keeper coach), Nimal Wijesekera (Head coach), Anura de Silva (Director Operations FFSL), Group Captain Saman Kotage (Manager), Upali Hewage (General Secretary FFSL), A.K. Ranju Silva (Captain), K. Rohan Wickremaratne (Assistant Coach), U.G. Sameera Kalyanapriya (Masseur). Middle row: Sahan Nirmika, Chathura Avishka, Madusanka Karunaratne, Faiz M. Farood, Sasmitha Peiris, Nipul Anuranga, Praduthia Gunasekera, Mohammed Fahadh, Buwaneka Prabath, Supun Harshana, Back row: Mohammed Naseer, N. Chaminda Senaviratne, Mohammed Saheel, S.S. Niresh, Mohammed Afham, Sachintha Maduranga, Navindu Rangajith, Udayanga Weerakoddy, Naveen Jude, (Picture by S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen – Kandy Sports Cor.)

A twenty-member Sri Lanka's under 20 soccer team left the island on Friday night to participate in the 2nd under 16 SAF Games tournament to be held in Kathmandu Nepal that started yesterday.

This is the first time Sri Lanka will be participating in this football championship which will feature countries like hosts Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Afghanistan.

The participation in this tournament is the objective of the President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka Ranjith Rodrigo with an eye on the future and for our young footballers to get international experience which grow with them over the years and football in the country will greatly benefit from it. The experience gained will be invaluable and it will instil into them the importance of participation at any level.The Sri Lanka under 16 team will be led by R.J. Ranju Silva of De Mazened College, Kandy and will have players from schools from Colombo, Galle, Kalutara, Badulla and Kurunegala.

A matter of concern is that there is no schools representatives from Kandy and for that matter from the entire Central Province and it is time that the authorities look at this matter very seriously and take remedial action, so that the schools in the districts of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Matale take their football seriously. There is no season for football whether there sun or rain and the game could be played all round the year. So there is no excuse.