Ex-Royal sportsman discard now flying high at Emirates away from home:

Cricketer turned bowling champ wants to represent Sri Lanka

by Allaam Ousman

Dubai: There have been many instances of talented athletes falling by the wayside due to lack of opportunities. It requires sheer determination to keep running towards your goal when faced with hurdles. Some are fortunate to bloom late in their career. Rarely do you find someone who is able to switch seamlessly from one sport to another and keep alive his dream of representing the country.

Mohamed Javeed Farook is a shining example of a Sri Lankan sporting talent who was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth but seems to have the Midas touch.

A former Royal College athlete, Farook played rugby and cricket but is now one of the leading Ten-Pin bowlers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "I started Bowling when I stopped playing cricket in 2008," said Farook who qualified to the final round of the Dubai International Bowling Championship with the fourth highest score of 1836 points (average 204) in March.

He was also adjudged the Best Bowler at the inter-school competition conducted by Lanka Lions..But he considers beating the UAE national team in a club competition as the biggest achievement in his Bowling career. "I was playing for Indian Sports Club in the Tuesday League. We were all unknowns. I did not know we were playing against national players. We just played and we beat them. They (UAE) were stunned and asked where we were practising. That was my first inspiration," said Farook who has represented Emirates Airlines in competitions around the world.

Two years ago he helped Emirates win the team competition at the World Airlines Ten-Pin Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand for the first time. He stumbled into Bowling by chance putting up his hand for an inter-department tournament. "I just joined for fun. I thought it must be like cricket where instead of over-arm you bowl under-arm. I learnt by watching another Sri Lanka Dilan Selvadurai. I first borrowed a ball from him to see whether I could spin it. That's how I started. I watched UAE national players playing in the Ramadan Open. One day I went on to get a highest score and gradually I took it seriously. Now I am among the top three or four in the UAE with a seasonal average of 195," said Farook who has ambitions of representing Sri Lanka.

"We can't do so because we need to have a body affiliated to the Asian Bowling Federation. There were some Bowlers from Pakistan who managed to get government approval. We have pretty decent players here like Dilan Selvadurai and Rifty Razak. We have a lot of Sri Lankans playing for fun here but we could find genuine talent among them," he pointed out.

Dubai has been his second home for almost quarter of a century being employed as Finance Officer - Credit Risk at Emirates Airline and also holds permanent residency in India as an Indian Overseas Citizen since he is married to Mehrooz Batool from Karnataka. But he is interested in exporting the sport to Sri Lanka which has only one bowling alley.

"Emirates could shift their Airlines tournament to Sri Lanka if there were facilities. I'm also looking at the prospects of representing Sri Lanka in Bowling. There is no age barrier in this sport. Some of those who play in the airline tournaments are over 60," said Farook, a father of three, who will be turning 52 in November.

This is the same passion he displayed when he made his first foray into sports and being selected to the SLRFU (Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union) under 13 side coached by the great Summa Navaratnam. He played in various positions such as second row, flanker, hooker and finally winger when he matured into an athlete and represented the Royal second XV team.

As a cricketer he showed talent as an off-spinner being in the Royal under 17 squad but gave up when he realised he did not have it in his genes to make it big. "That's when I took to athletics. I represented Royal in the Colombo South zonals in the 400, 800 and 4x400 relays. I came third in my pet event 800 at the Public Schools Championships," recalled Farook with pride.

But his joy of being selected to represent SriLanka at the Asian Youth Games in Seoul, Korea in 1981 was short-lived. "We trained under a German coach at the Sports Ministry. I remember being given 'kal kiri' (milk) during training. That was a good experience. But when they said we had to find our own money for the air ticket... I quit. I could not afford 5,000 rupees which was big money at the time," he quipped.

It is an irony that he is now a high flier at Emirates where he showed his mettle both as player and manager. "I remember Shane Fernando who played for UAE was there at the time. We used to play against Russell Arnold and Virender Sehwag in the Ramadan tournaments," said Farook who managed the Emirates team for 10 years. He was tasked with building up the Emirates team which won the World Airline Cricket tournament held in Dubai in 1996.

Together with a Jamaican Leroy Lindsay and Desmond Rodriguez, they unearthed UAE stars Khurram Khan, Amjad Javed and Arshad Ali among others.

Farook also managed the Lanka Lions cricket team for one year..

What keeps this bespectacled young man at heart spinning the ball in a sport which he has taken like duck to water. "I just play for my satisfaction. I like competitiveness. It is good for team building. My dream is to represent Sri Lanka in Bowling," he said.